Pilot found dead after 'exiting' plane mid-air during emergency landing

The body of a pilot, who is thought to have jumped or fallen off a plane mid-air during an emergency landing, was found behind a house in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina on Sunday.

A map of the plane's flight path from ADS-B Exchange indicates that the plane was about 3,850 feet when the man reportedly exited the plane.

Videos from the incident showed the plane skidding off the runway at Raleigh-Durham International Airport before it spun in partial circles and stopped on the tarmac.

According to a report in The Observer, the right wheel of the turboprop aircraft fell off during landing and led to the accident. Shortly after taking off from Raeford, the plane called Fayetteville Air Traffic Control for help rerouting to RDU.

"Emergency, we've lost our right wheel, we'd like to proceed to Raleigh and make a landing at Raleigh," one pilot said. "We were attempting to land, we made contact with the ground, had a hard landing, and decided to go around, and at that point we lost the wheel."

"How do you intend to land at Raleigh-Durham?" air traffic control asked. "Get as slow as we can...I guess we're going to put it on the belly," the caller said, per a report by ABC11.

The other pilot, who reportedly jumped off or fell out of the plane mid-flight, was found dead behind a house in Fuquay-Varina four hours after the incident. It is still unclear why the 23-year-old pilot, Charles Hew Crooks, exited the plane without a parachute. His co-pilot sustained minor injuries in the incident and is undergoing treatment at a hospital.

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration, along with the Fuquay-Varina Police Department, have launched an investigation into the matter. The plane, a CASA C-212 Aviocar, is owned by Spore LTD LLC in Colorado Springs. It was made in Spain in 1983.