Google "North Carolina co-pilot death" and you will see a news story reported or carried by most of the media. It involved a small cargo twin engine plane that lost its nose wheel and had to do a belly landing on a grassy area at Raleigh Durham International. The stories say investigators haven't determined if the co-pilot died on descent or on impact? Some say he "fell" from the plane and some say he "jumped". The main pilot who landed the plane only had minor injuries and is OK. No one addresses what that pilot had to say about why his co-pilot "left" the plane at 3,500 ft? Even if the pilot doesn't want to talk, for some reason, how can any journalist not even address the issue? No one addresses the obvious question of "What explanation did the pilot have as to why his co-pilot "left" the plane at 3,500 ft?"
There may simply be no information on it at this point - and if that's the case, then good on them for not speculating. But I can! This aircraft was a CASA 212 and was previously owned by Paul Fayard; he used it as a skydiving aircraft since it had a tailgate that could be opened in flight. Thus there's a possibility that the copilot accidentally fell out an open tailgate while trying to look under the aircraft to see what happened to the wheel.
Sounds correct speculation. I would speculate why pilot never tethered themselves to the aircraft first Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Yes, I've since come to that same conclusion (probably from the same source that you used). That's a lot to leave out of a news story and sure, they shouldn't speculate but you should either report on what the pilot said or didn't say in that regard. The news reported that it was a small cargo plane, the co-pilot's father said that his son was trained for almost all flying conditions (I think he was referring to the instrument rating) but that didn't need to be added to the story as it was not pertinent. That's frequently what the news does, there is a private pilot flying in visual conditions, he crashes and the news reports that he didn't file a flight plan...like that caused the crash or as if it was a requirement. Their reporting exceeds their knowledge all the time. They don't have to be experts on everything but they could always run their report by an expert before filing it. Otherwise, the public is generally better off with no report being filed since they are usually so misleading or just factually incorrect. In this case the pilots had been working at a skyport taking skydivers up all day. That's primarily what they did with that plane. Reporting that a pilot fell or jumped out of a cargo plane, maybe died in fall or maybe on impact...just doesn't make a lot of sense compared to it was a skydiving transport with a rear ramp and the pilot may have fallen due to turbulence while inspecting the front gear with no comment or quote from the remaining pilot. Not good journalism. It happens in scuba diving and rock climbing in almost every reported fatality and the initial report and the actual eventual facts are rarely close.
Circa mid 1980s: We were flying from NY to Chicago. Our large jet plane was stuck in a blizzard in Boston. So, the airline dusted off a twin engine 29 passenger prop plane and we boarded and took off. and Shortly thereafter our pilot, Peter Aguerro, announced that the front gear was showing an indicator that the gear was not fully extended and locked. So, he circled the tower a few times, and they concurred that the gear was not down and locked. (Gee darn) So, we were diverted to a small airport near Allentown Pennsylvania, and proceeded to circle it's tower (maybe trying to use up the fuel?). So, now comes the landing(crash?) I advised my spouse to tuck in her belt and shoe laces, located the emergency exit and advised her and my sons to exit and run out about 50 yards and wait there. "If I'm unconscious, don't stop for me, just climb over me and run". ok-good advice(which seemed to have terrified the woman sitting between us?) so Our pilot, Peter brought that plane down so smoothly that the only way we knew that we had made ground contact was that we could hear the wheels begin to spin. Using the flaps, The pilot kept the nose up as long as possible, and then it fell, paused for a few moments, then fell to ground, and we skidded to a stop. The airline spokesman lied and claimed that we had been diverted for our safety---------- yeh right- We were diverted to a small airport which had no ambulance, ant their idea of fire suppression was a bunch of hand held fire extinguishers in the back of a pickup truck. But, fortunately: We had Peter Aguerro. When the plane had come to a stop, Peter came out into the passenger cabin to chat. A woman sitting across the isle from me exclaimed "God saved us!" and, Peter, without skipping a beat, in a heavy New Jersey accent proclaimed: "I saved yuz" and we all applauded. so riding in the back of the pickup trucks and one station wagon car we were taken to the airport building. It was a square building about 80 feet on the side. They led us through the building diagonally to another open door to show us our next plane. I jokingly said that we would all feel a lot better if the plane we were about to board wasn't identical to the one that just crashed. And the woman who had been seated between us began screaming. She convinced her husband to rent a car and drive the rest of the way. (oops)
