Why did an NC pilot leave a plane mid-flight? What we learned from final NTSB report

On a sunny afternoon in July 2022, a routine flight to pick up skydivers turned deadly.

Charles Hew Crooks, a 24-year-old co-pilot, exited a CASA 212 mid-flight without a parachute. His body was found hours later in the backyard of a suburban neighborhood in Fuquay-Varina.

After 18 months of wondering what happened during the fatal flight, the. National Transportation Security Broad has released its final investigative report on the incident.

Who was Charles Hew Crooks?

Crooks had an “overriding passion” for aviation from an early age, according to his obituary. He read flight books as a child and started taking flying lessons near his home in Connecticut. After becoming a professional pilot, he qualified as a commercial pilot and certified flight instructor.

In May 2021, he got a job as a flight instructor at FlightGest Academy at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, then accepted his “dream job” as a first officer with Rampart Aviation in April 2022, according to his obituary.

The plane Crooks and the pilot flew was registered to Spore LTD, a company managed by Rampart.

In the days after his death, Crooks’ family asked that people focus on “his love of life and flying.”

“Avoid speculation on his final moments, which are so much less important than the nearly 24 years of joy and wonder that he brought to everyone he met,” his brother, Crawford Crooks, said in a Facebook message to The News & Observer shortly after Charles Crook’s death.

What happened in the air?

According to the report, Crooks and the pilot, Michael Oppedal, were doing multiple skydiving runs on the morning of the incident. While returning to pick up a group of skydivers, the plane took a sudden jolt below the treeline. Despite Crooks and Oppedal’s efforts, the plane experienced a hard landing, which destroyed the right side landing gear.

Crooks and Oppedal were able to abort the landing and ascend, and decided to request an emergency landing at RDU, where there would be a longer runway and more rescue resources.

On the way to RDU, Crooks became “visibly upset” and said he was going to vomit. He opened the cockpit window, according to the report.

Oppedal says in the report that he then saw Crooks lower the ramp at the back of the plane to get more air.

Crooks then told Oppedal “I’m sorry,” before exiting the plane, according to the report.

Crooks’ body was later found in Fuquay-Varina’s Sonoma Springs neighborhood.

Why did he leave the plane?

That remains unclear. The NTSB report says Crooks lowered the ramp at the back of the plain to get more air after becoming sick.

But the report does not explicitly state why he left the plane or if leaving the plane was intentional or accidental. It says Crooks may have left the cockpit area quickly because he felt like was going to vomit. It says Crooks likely hadn’t previously been in the cabin area of the plane with the rear ramp lowered and may have inadvertently fallen.

It also says that a toxicology test found traces of mitragynine in Crooks’ liver tissue and urine, suggesting he had recently consumed a product containing kratom, a plant that can cause opioid-like impairment.

In November 2022, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Crooks’ death an accident in his autopsy.

The report states that Crooks died from numerous injuries, including several broken bones and fatal internal injuries, after falling 3,500 feet from the plane without a parachute.

This story was originally published December 15, 2023 at 4:25 PM with the headline "Why did an NC pilot leave a plane mid-flight? What we learned from final NTSB report."