Featured Image Credit: Legacy.com/Facebook
Topics: US News
Kit Roberts
A 911 call sees a pilot recalling the moment that their co-pilot jumped out of the plane while it was in mid air.
Charles Hew Crooks had been acting as second-in-command on the aircraft during a flight in North Carolina in the US on July 29, 2022.
The twin-engined CASA CN-212 Aviocar had been transporting skydivers when it 'dropped'.
As a result, the aircraft's landing gear hit a runway, according to a report into the incident from the National Transportation Safety Board.
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Crooks then declared an emergency, telling air-traffic controllers that they needed to divert to another airport in order to make an emergency landing.
Around 20 minutes after this, he seemed to become agitated on the flight.
A report released on August 16 2022 described that the copilot had become 'visibly upset about the hard landing’.
He then stopped communicating with air traffic controllers at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
Crooks opened window in the side cockpit while the plane was at 3,500ft, which the commanding pilot saying that he ‘may have gotten sick’.
The copilot then lowered the ramp which was at the back of the aircraft and indicated that he needed air.
After this the report described what happened next, saying that Crooks 'got up from his seat, removed his headset, apologized and departed the airplane via the aft ramp door'.
The aircraft had been about 30 miles south of Raleigh-Durham International Airport at the time.
Crooks did not have a parachute.
And chilling audio has now revealed the moment that the main pilot recounted the moment to an 911 operator.
The pilot can be heard saying: "My copilot just ran out the back of the plane."
The reply is a rather stunned 'he just did what now?', which prompts the pilot to repeat his message.
There is a pause before the operator asks: "So you don't have a co-pilot no longer sir?"
"No he just jumped out the back of the plane."
There is another pause before the pilot asks: "Would you like me to circle where he left at?"
The operator says to continue on, before asking: "Did you need something else?"
The pilot says: "No this dude literally jumped out the back of the plane without a parachute."
He adds: "I need to land, I'm just making you aware you're gonna have a dead body out where I just called you at. He just jumped out the back of the plane."
A report into the incident said: "The PIC stated that there was a bar one could grab about 6 ft above the ramp; however, he did not witness the SIC grab the bar before exiting the airplane. The PIC then turned the airplane to the right to search for the SIC.
"In a radio transmission to air traffic control about 1 ½ minutes after the SIC’s radio acknowledgement of the course heading, the PIC notified air traffic control that his copilot had departed the airplane without a parachute.
"The PIC proceeded on course to RDU, where he performed a low-approach and then emergency landing.
"Upon landing, the airplane departed the right side of the runway and came to rest upright in the grass. Post-accident examination of the airplane revealed substantial damage to the RMLG, landing gear fittings, and the airframe structure where the fittings attach."
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