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Leaders of the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board told WRAL News they have not yet spoken to the surviving co-pilot of a small plane that made an emergency landing last week at Raleigh-Durham International Airport after a man fell or jumped from him.
Charles Hugh Crooks, 23, died on July 29 and was one of two people on board the plane, which had only one person on board when it landed at RDU.
The FAA will lead the investigation into how Crooks, the flight’s co-pilot, managed to fall from the plane.
On Monday, the FAA released a statement to WRAL News saying it will interview the pilot as part of its investigation. However, the FAA said it is not discussing timelines.
The NTSB issued the following statement:
“The NTSB did not send an investigator to the scene. The NTSB is currently working with the FAA, gathering information, assessing the damage to the aircraft sustained in the hard landing and the circumstances to determine the extent of the NTSB’s investigation. No decision has been made at this stage.”
On Monday, the NTSB said it did not plan to conduct interviews about the July 29 incident.
The Flight Attorney offers a perspective on what happened
“This is definitely one of the strangest aviation events I’ve ever seen,” said aviation accident attorney James Kraus, who also has 40 years of piloting experience.
Crookes crashed while the pilot was traveling from Raeford West Airport to RDU.
“Obviously, I don’t know why anyone in that circumstance would leave the plane, because planes do land frequently or not infrequently with landing gear problems,” Kraus said.
The CASA 212 is a military-style aircraft used for skydiving that has a rear ramp that can be opened in flight. As of Monday, it was still unclear whether Crooks was near that door.
“This young man was able to get in the back to check the condition of the landing gear,” Cruz said.
Problems with the plane’s landing gear forced the pilots to make an emergency landing.
“I wouldn’t think it would be unusual for one person to just say, ‘Let me just go back and look,’ or the captain or commander to say, ‘Let me run the controls.’ Why don’t you come back and see what we have there?”’ Kraus said.
Kraus said any voice recorder in the cockpit could have answers to the pilot’s movements during flight.
“I have no idea why or how he left the plane,” Krauss said of Crooks. “It just seems weird.”
Crooks’ family says he was born to fly, a pilot and flight instructor living his dream.
Crooks was a pilot for Rampart Aviation, which contracts with the military to provide training and other services.
WRAL News reached out to Rampart Aviation multiple times, but leaders there would only say they had no comment.
Flight schedule
Flight 497CA made an emergency landing at 2:49 p.m. on Friday, July 29, at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, according to the FlightAware log.
The log shows the flight departed at 1.10pm on Friday 29 July from Raeford West Airport.
Flight N497CA’s top speed was 228 mph at 1:27 p.m., the log shows.
The aircraft’s maximum altitude was 13,150 feet at 13:23 and at 13:52
The log shows that the plane descended below 1,000 feet altitude several times:
- from 13:32 to 13:34
- from 14:03 to 14:05
- from 14:09 to 14:10
- from 14:45 to 14:44
- and before making an emergency landing at 14:48 at RDU
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