A FATHER says he “can’t imagine” what happened after his 23-year-old son reportedly jumped from a plane without a parachute.
Charles Crooks had been working toward becoming a professional pilot, said his dad, who called his son a “flying fanatic.”
Charles Crooks was known by his loved ones as a ‘flying fanatic’[/caption]
He died after either jumping or falling out of a small aircraft on Friday, said, investigators[/caption]
“I don’t know,” Hew Crooks told WRAL. “We can’t process it right now, I don’t know.”
According to Hew, Charles had been pursuing his pilot license while in college.
“I think he got that when he was a sophomore, he said a couple weeks ago, he wouldn’t trade places with anybody in the world. He loved where he was.”
However, the Raleigh-Durham International Airport received a report of a plane making an emergency landing on their runway on Friday.
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The aircraft was a small 10-person place and Charles was the co-pilot, but he was nowhere to be seen when it landed.
His body was later found in the backyard of a Fuquay-Varina home.
Investigators believe Charles had either fallen or jumped out of the plane without a parachute while it was still in the air.
“I can’t imagine what happened,” said his father. “We’ll figure it out, I suppose.”
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His father added that Charles had worked as a flight instructor for over a year and was certified to fly in any condition.
Investigators are still trying to determine what happened in his final moments.
“We’re a strong family and we’re a very loving family. But this, it leaves a hole,” said his father. “I don’t know. We can’t process it right now.”
The other pilot suffered minor injuries but was able to land the plane safely.
He was released from a local hospital on Friday evening, said officials.
His body was later found in the backyard of a North Carolina home[/caption]
‘We can’t process it right now, I don’t know,’ said his father, Hew Crooks[/caption]
