Timeline of plane incident: A mysterious mid-flight exit before Raleigh crash landing

On the afternoon of Friday, July 29, a small plane carrying two licensed pilots took off from a private airport in Raeford, N.C., and crash-landed in Raleigh about 90 minutes later, with only one pilot onboard.

Here’s what we know about the timeline of events that afternoon, based on previous reporting from The News & Observer.

Friday, July 29

1:10 p.m. According to FlightAware.com, a small plane — a CASA C-212 Aviocar with Tail No. N497CA — departed from Raeford in Hoke County at 1:10 p.m. The plane was registered to Spore LTD LLC from Colorado Springs, a company managed by Rampart Aviation.

1:30 p.m.: The plane began circling Raeford West Airport and experienced a “hard landing,” but the landing was aborted. A spokesperson for the privately owned airport said the plane did not use their runway, but rather a dirt military runway nearby. Sometime shortly after that aborted landing, the plane — using the call sign Shady 02 — called Fayetteville Air Traffic Control for help rerouting to RDU.

1:50-2 p.m.: The pilots contacted air traffic control at Raleigh-Durham International Airport requesting an emergency landing. They reported that the right wheel of their turboprop plane had fallen off during an attempted landing near a private airport in Raeford.

2:30 p.m.: Around 2:30 or 2:45 Friday afternoon, authorities received reports that a man had exited a small plane mid-flight. A map of the plane’s flight path from ADS-B Exchange, a flight-tracking service, suggests the plane was at about 3,850 feet during this time, and that it crossed over Hilltop Needmore Road in Fuquay-Varina at about 2:30.

2:49 p.m.: Shortly before 3 p.m., the plane approached RDU and landed on Runway 5R-23L. It veered into the grass, according to the airport. The pilot, the only passenger on the plane when it reached the ground, was taken to a Duke University hospital with minor injuries.

5 p.m.: By 5 p.m., EMS, police and fire departments were searching a large swath of Wake County for a second person who may have “exited the plane while it was in air,” said Carolyn Roman with the Town of Cary. The search would eventually involve federal authorities.

7 p.m.: The missing co-pilot was found dead behind a house near Sunset Lake and Hilltop Needmore roads in Fuquay-Varina.

11 p.m.: The Fuquay-Varina police department held a news conference to announce the identity of the recovered co-pilot: Charles Hew Crooks of Raleigh. FVPD says the father of the co-pilot, located in Fairfield, Connecticut, had been notified.