Man jumps out of plane without parachute and dies before emergency landing at airport: Officials

A twin-engine cargo plane made an emergency landing Friday at an airport in North Carolina after reported landing-gear issues, and a search for a person who jumped from it before the landing ended with the recovery of a body, Wake County officials said.

Darshan Patel, the Operations Manager for Wake County Emergency Management Wake EMS said in a 7:15 p.m. briefing that a body matching the description of the missing plane passenger was recovered.

The man identified as Charles Hew Crooks, 23, was found in Fuquay-Varina.

According to Patel, "There was no indication" that Crooks had a parachute.
#emergencylanding

[cal-native]

He was a co-pilot with flight experience. It's highly doubtful he would jump out of a fully functional plane with a landing gear issue. Most of the speculation amongst aviation channels is that he accidentally fell out while trying to check out the issue from the back ramp, which is very short on this aircraft. Let's at least give this poor guy the benefit of the doubt with a logical explanation!

[johnpipping]

This is complete misinformation. No, investigators DID NOT SAY that a man jumped from the aircraft. No investigator would draw an immediate conclusion like that. As yet there is no final explanation, but the circumstances and ATC tapes lead much more towards the fact that the co-pilot was trying to look at the right main landing gear due to reports it had detached. The only place he could do this from was the tailgate of the aircraft. It is very likely he fell, unintentionally, from that position. There are plenty of good aviation investigative reporters on YT. Watch them, don’t believe this hysterical, unconfirmed nonsense. Try Dan Gryder or Blancolirio for balanced, intelligent reporting.

[fex]

Lots of mis-information here, it was the co-pilot that departed from the aircraft. As someone mentioned below its probably him trying to get the gear to come down, how he ended falling out is another story, but I'm sure it was not a case of him jumping out taking his chances.

[BuzzyStreet]

The pilot did a great job on that landing.

[theHAL]

Overall pilot did a nice job of the landing.

[jaylucien]

This is why freaking out in a crisis is never a good idea. Thoughts & prayers to him and his family.

[allthingsharbor]

Did he really jump ... or ... was he trying to inspect that right side landing gear (verify it was down) and fell to his death ??? If he was indeed the co-pilot, then it might be the latter.

[stevegiboney]

The news services need to talk to an aviation expert before they make fools out of themselves.

[deeeeeeps]

That emergency landing was better than most normal landings.. When it comes to fight or flight.... the passenger shouldn't have chose flight when already flying.

[mastermnd]

Why can't you be honest with your title instead of this clickbait? The co-pilot fell out trying to free a stuck landing wheel.

[chrismaggio]

I didn't hear anywhere in this story WHY the man jumped(???)Was the plane landing because the guy bailed out and found that the gear was stuck, or ? Half assed work by the reporting crew. No followup on the red stain from the jumper. No comment about how far from the airport he bailed out or altitude. nothing. Crappy reporting.

[KindredAutomotive]

The guy that fell was the co-pilot….. you think that might have added some context to this story🤷🏼‍♂️ …. Kind of an important detail to omit….

[stillerseas]

Rest In Peace to the poor soul who lost their life in that moment. Truly sad.

[willahelmpowers]

Looking elsewhere it appears the guy may have been the co-pilot and was perhaps manually checking that stuck landing gear from inside and wound up falling, rather than a passenger that jumped. But like they said elsewhere, the pilot survived and will likely say what happened from his point of view.

[NutUpOrShutUp]

Bro decided to jump off the plane knowing he will die instead of taking his chance on the pilot to be able to land the plane safely now he dead. Lesson here is think before you act

[TimothyFitzgeraldArtist]

I have been a pilot for many years and it sounds to me that the co-pilot went to check if there was anything he could do to get the gear down. Remember the plane had a very hard landing which caused one of the wheels to be unusable. He was trying to see if there was anything he could do to solve the problem. The pilot probably said he would rock the plane to see if that would get it down & locked
"That's what I would do", and the copilot lost his balance & fell . No one but an idiot would choose to leap out. Trained pilots, as he was, would know what to do. It was just a sad accident.

[ciel]

Deciding to jump without having a parachute is Natural selection

[shaneintegra]

RIP Buddy, nobody should die at such a young age.

[yadinavarro]

He was the co pilot, probably checking what was wrong and fell through the opening, it was a parachuting plane

[PonchoCuervo]

They found his body in someone's backyard after they reported hearing a loud noise.