Pilot Charles Hugh Crooks, who reportedly died after jumping out of the damaged plane on July 29, was so shaken by the accident early in the flight that he opened the cockpit window and fell ill. It could have happened, the pilot of the plane told investigators.National Transportation Safety Board.
The NTSB released a preliminary report on the incident on Tuesday. It describes information collected by the NTSB but does not draw any conclusions.
of The mysterious death of 23-year-old Crookes He came to national attention on July 29 as federal officials investigated an emergency landing of a plane he had landed on during his flight.
According to the report, CASA 212, of which Crooks was the co-pilot, made two skydives and crashed the right main gear on a hard landing on its way back to Raeford West Airport to pick up a third group. lost.
The pilot told the NTSB that Mr Crooks was piloting the plane at the time, regained control and put the plane back in the air.
No pilot name.
According to the pilot, Crooks was “visibly upset” about the hard landing. The pilot opened a window on the side of the cockpit and said he “could have felt sick”.
The pilot told NTSB he felt like Crooks lowered the rear fuselage ramp and felt sick and needed air. The pilot took over radio communication as Crooks “rose from his seat, took off his headset, apologized, and took off the plane through his door on the rear ramp.”
Reportedly, there was a railing within reach of the ramp. However, according to reports, the pilot did not see Crook reach for this bar during his departure.
When the plane made an emergency landing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport at 2:50 pm, the pilot was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
According to voice recordings of 911 calls and radio traffic, the pilot said Crooks “jumped” out of the plane without a parachute. The surviving pilot reported the potential coordinates of Crooks’ location before landing on the RDU, according to his 911 records for the Cary Police Department.
The incident prompted numerous law enforcement agencies to launch a massive drone and helicopter search from Cary to southern Wake County.
Crooks was found dead at 7:00 p.m. behind a house near Sunset Lake and Hilltop Needmore Road in the Sonoma Springs neighborhood of Fuquay Varina.
passion for flying
Crooks had an “overwhelming passion” for aviation “virtually from birth,” he says. his obituaryHe read flight books at an early age and began taking flying lessons near his home in Connecticut.
After working as a professional pilot, he became a commercial pilot and a certified flight instructor. In May 2021 he got a job as a Flight Instructor at his FlightGest Academy at his RDU. According to his obituary, Crooks said that in April 2022 he accepted his “dream job” as co-pilot at Rampart Aviation.
of The plane Crooks and the pilot flew Registered with Spore LTD, Company run by Lampert.
Charles Crooks’ family has asked that people focus on “his life and love of flying” rather than his death.Crooks loved life in North Carolina and, according to his obituary, “He’s exactly where he wanted to do what he wanted to do,” he told his parents.
Crawford Crookes, the pilot’s brother, said in a Facebook message to N&O, “About his final moments, far less important than the nearly 24 years of joy and amazement he brought to everyone he met. Avoid speculation.
Q&A: What we know about the co-pilot’s mysterious mid-flight escape before RDU landing