North Carolina’s chief medical examiner reportedly ruled that the death of a pilot who jumped from a small plane in July was an accident, according to reports.
On July 29, Charles Hew Crooks, 23, was the co-pilot of a plane that required an emergency landing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
A passenger plane is preparing to land.
The pilot of the plane told investigators that within minutes after they diverted to another airport for an emergency landing, Crooks was “clearly disturbed by the hard landing,” according to an NTSB report released in August.
Experts cast doubt on story of North Carolina pilot ‘jumping out’ of plane: ‘Accident or malice?’
Crooks opened his cockpit side window and “may have fallen ill,” the report said. He then lowered the ramp at the rear of the plane and said he felt like he was getting sick and needed air.
The co-pilot “rised from his seat, removed his headset, apologized and exited the aircraft through the rear ramp door,” the report said.
On July 29, 2022, Darshan Patel, director of operations for Wake County Emergency Management, spoke with a group of reporters.
(Wake County Government/Twitter)
Crooks, who did not have a parachute, was found dead in a backyard in the town of Fuquevarina.
North Carolina pilot dies after mysteriously jumping from plane in mid-air or crash
The autopsy report, obtained by NBC station WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina, said there were no signs of drugs or alcohol in his body at the time of his death, but he suffered multiple fractures and fatal damage to multiple organs, including his heart and lungs.
The cause of death was multiple blunt trauma and his death was ruled an accident, WRAL reported.
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“It was concluded that the decent person had moved aft, probably vomited from the open gangway and accidentally fell from the aircraft,” the report read.
