New radio traffic reveals how massive search mobilized after co-pilot ‘jumped’ from plane

New 911 calls released Wednesday reveal how the Triangle region’s emergency responders quickly mobilized to begin searching for a co-pilot who had reportedly jumped from a plane before it made an emergency landing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

Just before 3 p.m. on July 30, Cary 911 received its first call from Raleigh-Wake Emergency Communications Center alerting them of a co-pilot who had “jumped” from a small plane mid-flight.

“The co-pilot jumped out?” the dispatcher said, sounding incredulous. “Where?”

According to six audio recordings released Wednesday by the Cary Police Department, the surviving pilot notified air traffic control that his co-pilot, Charles Hew Crooks, had jumped before their plane landed. The co-pilot also had reported that the right wheel of their plane had fallen off near a private airport in Raeford.

The first calls said Crooks had jumped from a twin-engine cargo plane within a one-mile radius of West Lake Middle School on West Lake Road.

Within minutes, around 2:57 p.m., emergency responders started assembling at West Lake Middle in Cary. They started talking about what they would need for the search: a drone, a helicopter and perhaps an underwater drone. They worked to obtain a description of Crooks and to pinpoint where he may have landed.

Subsequently, Cary Fire Department was instructed to start combing the wooded areas within the radius of West Lake Middle School.

A short while later, dispatchers were told that the FAA had recalculated the location of the plane when the pilot called to report that Crooks had jumped. The plane was roughly over 3029 James Slaughter Road, the FAA calculated.

The dispatcher said the co-pilot was “very shaken up” by the incident. The pilot who landed the plane has not yet been identified.

By 5 p.m., authorities were searching an expansive area of Wake County from Cary south to the Harnett County line.

Crooks, 23, was found dead at 7 p.m., behind a house near Sunset Lake and Hilltop Needmore roads in the Sonoma Springs subdivision of Fuquay-Varina. He was found roughly five miles from West Lake Middle but just a few hundred yards from James Slaughter Road.

During the initial frenzy of the search, first responders lacked a full description of the co-pilot. He was first described as a 27-year-old man. This was later corrected to 23.

They knew he was a 5-foot-10 white male, wearing a black shirt and khaki pants. They didn’t yet know his name and said he did not leave the plane with a parachute.

Crooks was later identified by Fuquay-Varina police. The Raleigh man was a pilot and flight instructor.

The incident remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

This story was originally published August 10, 2022 at 5:46 PM.