Audio Released After co-Pilot Charles Hew Crooks Jumped From Plane Before Emergency Landing

‘We have a pilot that was inbound to the field,’ one of the controllers told the 911 dispatcher. ‘His co-pilot Charles Hew Crooks jumped out of the aircraft’

When two FAA employees learned that the co-pilot of the cargo plane that was set to make an emergency landing had jumped from the aircraft, they immediately dialed 911.

On the phone with the North Carolina 911 dispatcher, an FAA official says, “This is from the airport in Raleigh. We have a pilot who arrived at the field by plane. His co-pilot leaped off the plane. Here are the coordinates where he made contact with the ground.”

The employee went on to claim that the co-pilot, 23-year-old Charles Hew Crooks, “jumped out of the plane without a parachute, so he may have had a hard landing.”

He continued. “The pilot will undoubtedly be rattled by this. I am clueless. He only stated, “My pilot just leapt out,” in full.”

And then there’s this: “I suppose all we can do right now is recuperate.” I’m not sure. I’m not sure. The strangest thing ever, this.

The 911 call was most likely made in order for local authorities to locate the deceased, which they discovered in a backyard 30 miles from the airport.

The plane crash-landed due to faulty landing gear; the pilot suffered minor injuries and was released from the hospital the same day.

This study has a strange quality to it. Days have passed, and the NTSB, FAA, or FBI have made no mention of speaking with the pilot who made the airplane’s landing or what he said.

It is unknown if there is a cockpit recording, but given this was a cargo plane, it is likely that there is one. However, none of the agencies are willing to comment on the specifics of the crash.