Charter Member
This rises to the level of weird
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The co-pilot of a small cargo plane died Friday after falling from the aircraft in North Carolina before it made an emergency landing.
Newsoutletsreport that the body of the co-pilot, 23-year-old Charles Hew Crooks, was found in a backyard in the town of Fuquay-Varina, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of the Raleigh-Durham International Airport. He did not have a parachute.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
Registered Member
I'm not Bo, but maybe I can answer the question as asked...I'd say at 32 feet per second per second......Ben
The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...
Charter Member
O
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
Charter Member
Which makes the survivor a murder suspect.
Hunter
I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead
Charter Member
Maybe he was trying to manually lower landing gear?
Fred
"Everyday I beat my own previous record for number of consecutive days I've
stayed alive."
'Take care of yourself, and each other.'
Charter Member
That in some form or another is all I can think ofOriginally Posted by FredK
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
Charter Member
Appears the gear was down but missing a tire....
Charter Member
Yeah, planes break.
What we know is two men were together in a plane and one died. As a result, the survivor's life will be picked apart with a fine-toothed comb.
Hunter
I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead
Charter Member
I fall out of planes alll the time..It's easy to do.
My guess is he opened the door to investigate and made the mistake of taking his seatbelt off so he could lean out further..... Exit the gene pool please..
Charter Member
I was not aware of the type of aircraft.... see below. Sounds like the pilot went aft and lowered the ramp to get a look at the gear.
Aircraft registered to Spore but ultimately owned by Rampart Aviation. Rampart is the company that years ago bought some or all of Paul Fayard's fleet of aircraft. Plane took off from Raeford on a military contract dropping jumpers at a huge private field called Raeford West. The plane was landing in that field, which they do all the time, had a hard landing, and decided to keep flying. Did a low pass and were told that all or part of the right side landing gear was gone. Gear was found and in the bed of a pick up truck.
Pilot contacted Raleigh, declared an emergency, and was in route to land there. Long wide runway with large grass areas and safety equipment. Flat approach, dropped the speed, set it down on the left and nose gear, right side comes down in about 7 seconds and plane skids to the right into the grass. Pilot had minor injury.
Sometime between while in route to RDU the 23-year old co-pilot, Charles Crooks, exited the plane at approximately 3,800 feet without a parachute, about 20 miles from RDU.
Typical procedure is to fly with the rear ramp closed. In the video of the landing at RDU the ramp is closed. The landing gear can be viewed from inside the plane so not much reason to try and hang out the rear to see it. One of the pilots would have had to open the ramp and then close it after he exited. There is a control lever that operates the ramp, it's on the wall behind the co-pilot seat, not sure if the ramp can be opened from the back of the plane.
The video below, at 3:15, has some flight data. It appears to show a takeoff and climb to 12k, a landing, takeoff and climb to 12k both indicating dropping jumpers. What doesn't make sense is the graph shows 100+ mph when the plane would be on the ground reloading. Probably some simple explanation for this. It's possible they were doing practice climbs, passes to drop jumpers at 12k and descents, then low level flying, or a touch and go, before the actually attempted landing. At 3:25 is the landing when the gear was broken and then there was the low pass before heading to RDU. All that is not the story but the data is interesting.
Plenty of speculation going on. Folks are waiting to hear the pilots story.
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...b_channel=WRAL
Charter Member
Sad for everyone involved. who in their right mind would go near an open door in a craft without being anchored or a parachute equipped. My brain gets scared of the door when we are told we cant exit....
Charter Member
It's good to hear the pilot only sustained minor injuries.
Hunter
I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead
Charter Member
I'm sure he is lawyering up before making a statement.
Charter Member
Charter Member
Can you imagine being the guy on the ground in that conversation
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
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