What do you think happened to the pilot: a morning game.

[QueequegsHead]

A North Carolina pilot died under mysterious circumstances Friday afternoon, officials said.

Charles Hew Crooks, 23, was one of two people onboard the small, 10-person plane Friday but it landed with just one person in Wake County, North Carolina, WRAL reported.

Authorities say Crooks either jumped or fell from the plane in midair without a parachute.

Source: Fox News

Suicide?
Pushed out?
Structural failure?
An angry act of God?

Guess now before they give us the answer!

I say, terrorist act against suburbia by a dedicated urbanite.


https://www.foxnews.com/us/north-carolina-pilot-dies-mysteriously-jumped-fell-plane-midair

 

[FL30]

A North Carolina pilot died under mysterious circumstances Friday afternoon, officials said.

Charles Hew Crooks, 23, was one of two people onboard the small, 10-person plane Friday but it landed with just one person in Wake County, North Carolina, WRAL reported.

Authorities say Crooks either jumped or fell from the plane in midair without a parachute.

Source: Fox News

Suicide?
Pushed out?
Structural failure?
An angry act of God?

Guess now before they give us the answer!

I say, terrorist act against suburbia by a dedicated urbanite.


https://www.foxnews.com/us/north-carolina-pilot-dies-mysteriously-jumped-fell-plane-midair

NOT a structural failure, there is a picture of him jumping out of the back of the plane. It's a cargo plane so the back lowers down into a ramp.

This is a very puzzling incident because I've never heard of another pilot bailing out of a plane that had a mechanical failure before except in WWI before they had parachutes. Pilots would jump out of their planes if they caught fire as it was more desirable to die that way than to get burned alive.

This wasn't even a major mechanical issue. Supposedly, they lost a wheel after takeoff which is a very survivable incident. There was NO NEED to leave the plane under this type of mechanical failure. Lots of planes have had this happen and have still laned safely with NO INJURIES to those onboard, (just as this one did). I doubt that he was pushed out, as that would be hard for the other pilot to do.

Surprisingly, the picture that shows him jumping out of the back of the plane, also shows that all 3 wheels/tires are still on the plane, so maybe they had a flat, which is NOT an issue.

His actions were certainly not rationale. When you learn to fly, one of the first rules of flying are: Fly the plane.

There are three major rules that you learn when learning to become a pilot. They are: 1. fly the plane - first and foremost, no matter what. 2. navigate - means to navigate the plane to where you need to go, for whatever reason. 3. Communicate - and lastly, communicate only, if you have things under control

None of the pilots that I know have a plausible explanation for his actions. (I know over 500+ pilots)

 

[thør]

The Casa 212 flies just fine with the back door open. I figure he just went for a walk.

 

[QueequegsHead]

Thanks for that. I kind of let the story drop and haven't followed up on it.

I'm still curious as to what was going on. Suicide comes to mind.

 

[FL30]

Air traffic controllers say co-pilot 'jumped' from plane​

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a...pc=U531&cvid=99f09d5404fa44c899939a660f794752

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A 911 call from air traffic controllers suggests that a co-pilot may have jumped from a damaged plane before the other pilot made an emergency landing in North Carolina, according to a recording of the call that was released Tuesday.

It's been unclear exactly how or why Charles Hew Crooks, 23, exited the small cargo plane on Friday afternoon about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Raleigh-Durham International Airport. He did not have a parachute, and his body was found in a backyard in the town of Fuquay-Varina.

Two unnamed Federal Aviation Administration employees can be heard telling a 911 dispatcher that the plane was heading to the airport. The pilot onboard had apparently told them that his co-pilot 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 WRAL. “His co-pilot jumped out of the aircraft. He made impact to the ground and here are the coordinates.”

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 sustained substantial damage to its landing gear and fuselage, according to preliminary information gathered by the National Transportation Safety Board. The investigation is ongoing.

 

[FL30]

Thanks for that. I kind of let the story drop and haven't followed up on it.

I'm still curious as to what was going on. Suicide comes to mind.

not being rationale, comes to mind

 

[QueequegsHead]

Your odds have to be better with a controlled crash than an uncontrolled jump.

I think that's the first that I've seen damage mentioned.

 

[QueequegsHead]

Have we completely ruled out "thrown out?"

Nobody likes a back-seat driver (co-pilot).

 

[JohnnySavage]

Wouldn't he have been a side-seat driver

 

[thør]

A Casa is an easy plane to jump out of.

 

[twister947]

Have we completely ruled out "thrown out?"

Nobody likes a back-seat driver (co-pilot).

Even all trimmed up, that would be a significant shift of cg.

 

[Dearelliot]

I think he committed suicide.

 

[thør]

Even all trimmed up, that would be a significant shift of cg.

They do it all the time. Hit the button to open the door and people jump out. Most go with parachutes.

 

[TallMan69]

I wonder if not very good situational awareness of the sustained injury and in a moment of anxiety/panic the co-pilot kind of lost it and thought they were gonna crash anyway. That kind of goes against all the tenets that someone else posted of staying with the plane and flying it to the very end. But sometimes there are deviations from the norm. And not every one is a cool and collected CAPT Sully. Plus, he seemed pretty green. If you’re gonna pull a DB Cooper at least have a chute.

 

[twister947]

They do it all the time. Hit the button to open the door and people jump out. Most go with parachutes.

That's not the same as both pilots leaving the cockpit and going aft.

 

[twister947]

That's not the same as both pilots leaving the cockpit and going aft.

Also, when the jumpers go, the pilot is compensating.

 

[thør]

Maybe the co-pilot had to piss?

 

[twister947]

Maybe the co-pilot had to piss?

My vote: He was visually inspecting the landing gear, slipped, and fell.

 

[FL30]

My vote: He was visually inspecting the landing gear, slipped, and fell.

NOPE, he could have seen the gear from inside, no need to open the cargo doors and they're too far back to be able to look around to see the gear. I'm pretty sure the CASA is a fixed gear plane.

 

[FL30]

I wonder if not very good situational awareness of the sustained injury and in a moment of anxiety/panic the co-pilot kind of lost it and thought they were gonna crash anyway. That kind of goes against all the tenets that someone else posted of staying with the plane and flying it to the very end. But sometimes there are deviations from the norm. And not every one is a cool and collected CAPT Sully. Plus, he seemed pretty green. If you’re gonna pull a DB Cooper at least have a chute.

He had his commercial license so that meant that he had at least 250 hours of flying time as PIC. Even with that low of time, you're constantly practicing for emergencies - engine out - landing off field, no flaps, engine fire, etc. It is part of learning to fly, and you learn emergency procedures for every aircraft that you fly. When you get checked out in a new plane, the instructor pilot, puts you through a lot of emergency situations and normal operating procedures to see if you really know the plane. There are things that you have to demonstrate to be able to get checked out to be able to fly the plane. You just don't go hop in one and start flying it. Just about every plane is different based on the manufacturer.

 

[QueequegsHead]

No new news?

 

[twister947]

No new news?

Kinda mysterious, no?

 

[twister947]

He had his commercial license so that meant that he had at least 250 hours of flying time as PIC. Even with that low of time, you're constantly practicing for emergencies - engine out - landing off field, no flaps, engine fire, etc. It is part of learning to fly, and you learn emergency procedures for every aircraft that you fly. When you get checked out in a new plane, the instructor pilot, puts you through a lot of emergency situations and normal operating procedures to see if you really know the plane. There are things that you have to demonstrate to be able to get checked out to be able to fly the plane. You just don't go hop in one and start flying it. Just about every plane is different based on the manufacturer.

None of this guarantees good decision making, to state the obvious.

 

[QueequegsHead]

I went back to the original source of the story and found no updates.

 

[twister947]

This is more recent...

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...ng-audio-from-aerial-incident-near-fort-bragg