According to a preliminary assessment issued by the National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday, a copilot who leaped to his death from a small aircraft in North Carolina was upset because the landing gear was damaged during a failed runaway approach.
The pilot-in-command of the jet told federal investigators that his copilot, Charles Hew Crooks, 23, “got clearly angry over the harsh landing” in the minutes after the emergency landing diversion, according to the report.
The study states that the copilot, who had been in command throughout the aborted landing attempt, opened his side cockpit window at 3,500 feet and ‘may have been ill’.
He then dropped the ramp at the rear of the aircraft, signalling that he felt nauseous and need air.
According to the report, Crooks stood up, removed his headset, apologised, and exited the aircraft by the rear ramp door.
29 July, around 30 miles south of Raleigh-Durham International Airport, an event happened. Crooks did not have a parachute at the time, and his death was discovered in a garden near Fuquay-Varina.
Earlier in the day, the two pilots were flying skydiving runs out of Raeford West Airport, according to a report released on Tuesday. When the hard landing happened, they were on their third approach to the airport and descending.
According to the report, Crooks was flying the approach when the aircraft ‘dropped’ and both pilots requested a go-around manoeuvre. The right main landing gear touched the runway before Crooks could commence a climb.
The other pilot resumed control of the aircraft, according to the report. He instructed Crooks to claim an emergency and seek landing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
The pilot told investigators that Crooks became upset ‘about 20 minutes into the diversion to RDU, after conducting approach and emergency briefings,’ the report stated.
Earlier this month, an audio recording of two unnamed Federal Aviation Administration employees telling a 911 dispatcher that the damaged plane was heading to the airport was released.
The pilot onboard had apparently told them at the time that Crooks had ‘jumped out of the aircraft,’ news outlets reported.
‘We have a pilot that was inbound to the field,’ a controller told the 911 dispatcher, according to the audio file. ‘His co-pilot jumped out of the aircraft. He made impact to the ground and here are the coordinates.’
‘All we can do is recovery at this point,’ FAA personnel said at the end of the 911 call. ‘I mean, I don’t know. I’ve never heard…this is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard’
The call lasted about 13 minutes, with the controllers stating several times that the co-pilot had jumped.
Wake County Emergency Management Chief of Operations Darshan Patel said the initial 911 call prompted the search for Crooks.
The airplane also had substantial damage to its fuselage, the National Transportation Safety Board specified in its report.
The plane’s pilot in command, whose name has not been released, sustained minor injuries. He was taken to Duke Hospital before eventually being released. He is in good condition.
In a 40-minute exchange between the unidentified pilot and air traffic control, there’s oddly no mention or hint of Crooks falling from the plane.
The pilot can be heard saying: ‘Emergency, we’ve lost our right wheel. We would like to proceed to Raleigh and make a landing at Raleigh.’
He adds: ‘We have two persons on board. We have enough fuel on board that will last us for the next four hours.’
Air Traffic control responds: ‘Raleigh-Durham Airport or Raleigh-General?’ ‘Rogers resume all navigation to Raleigh-Durham Airport.’
‘More clarification, did you try landing on Raeford West?’ he asks. ‘Did it [the wheel] fall off while still in the air?’
‘We were attempting to land,’ the pilot said. ‘We made contact with the ground and had a hard landing and decided to go around and at that point we lost the wheel.’
When air traffic control questioned how they intended to land, the pilot said: ‘Going to go in as slow as we can and I guess we are going to put it on the belly.’ He then repeated that the plane’s right wheel had fallen off.
At around 2:40 p.m., when the jet touched down on Runway 5R-23L at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, many law enforcement agencies were on standby.
However, there was just one person on board, and there was no trace of Crooks, the second copilot.
The family residing on the property where Crooks was later discovered said to local news agencies that they heard a loud impact and phoned the police.
The 23-year-father, old’s Crooks, said that flying had been his son’s “lifelong dream” and that he was a former flight instructor who was licenced to fly in all weather situations.
Crooks said to WRAL that Crooks had informed him, “He wouldn’t trade places with anybody in the world.” He cherished where he was.
The aircraft was owned by Rampart Aviation of Colorado. The corporation did not reply to a request for comment from DailyMail.com. According to his LinkedIn profile, Crooks began working for the business five months ago.
The 1983-manufactured CASA C-212 Aviocar with 10 seats was not on a commercial trip at the time of the tragedy.