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The body of a man who either fell or jumped from a cargo plane before it was forced to make an emergency landing at a North Carolina airport has been recovered.
Two people were onboard the CASA C-212 Aviocar when it started to experience technical difficulties on Friday. By the time it skidded into Raleigh–Durham International Airport at around 2:40 p.m., only the pilot was still on the plane. He told authorities that the second person aboard, 23-year-old Charles Hew Crooks, jumped out before the shaky landing attempt, WRAL reported.
Crooks’ body was found hours later outside of a home Fuquay-Varina, after a resident “heard something in their backyard” around 7 p.m., according to Darshan Patel, Wake County Emergency Management chief of operations.
Patel added that there was “no indication” Crooks was wearing a parachute.
In recordings of the the cargo plane’s interaction with air traffic control, the pilot can be heard explaining how the aircraft lost its right main landing gear wheel after a “hard landing” at Raeford West Airport. He managed to get the plane back up in the air but was forced to land a short time later.
The small 10-person plane belongs to Spore Ltd. LLC, which is owned by Rampart Aviation.
Video from WRAL shows the aircraft skidding across the grass between a pair of runways at RDU before coming to a complete stop. The airfield was closed until the scene was secured, causing several delays and at least one diverted American Airlines flight from Dallas.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading an investigation into the crash along with the Federal Aviation Administration.
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