Charlie Crooks was a 23-year-old pilot who mysteriously died after exiting the plane he was on mid-flight without a parachute, Today reports.
The “small twin plane” made an emergency landing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport after there was reportedly an issue with “the landing gear.”
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Emergency, we’ve lost our right wheel,” an unnamed pilot who was the other passenger on the plane said in the recording. We’d like to speak to Raleigh and make an emergency landing at Raleigh.
Authorities state that the plane skidded off the runway and into the grass. When the emergency crew opened the plane door, the Federal Aviation Administration noted that only one co-pilot appeared.
According to TMZ, law enforcement is evaluating many theories to explain what happened to Charlie. One idea is that he inspected the damage to the plane’s rear door when he fell. The chief pilot’s original air traffic control call explains that “two persons onboard.”
An airport employee placed a 911 call after they learned that Charlie was no longer on the plane.
The employee told the operator that Charlie “jumped out without the parachute so that he might have an impact to the ground.”
Charlie’s close friends and family members reject those claims. A close friend even recalls an incident where Charlie had mechanical issues with a plane in the past and still landed it so well.
Before the tragic incident, Charlie posted a picture of him sitting at the back of the plane on Instagram. The caption reads:
If there’s anything we can do to make your journey more comfortable, there is an exit ramp at the rear of the airplane that we will gladly open for you.
Roomies, what are your thoughts?
