Air traffic controllers say co-pilot ‘jumped’ from plane

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A 911 call from air traffic controllers suggests that a co-pilot may have jumped from a damaged plane before the other pilot made an emergency landing in North Carolina. That’s according to a recording of the call that was released Tuesday. It’s been unclear exactly how or why Charles Hew Crooks exited the small cargo plane on Friday afternoon. He didn’t have a parachute. And his body was found in a backyard about 30 miles south of Raleigh-Durham International Airport. Two unnamed Federal Aviation Administration employees can be heard telling a 911 dispatcher that the plane was heading to the airport. The pilot onboard had apparently told them that his co-pilot had “jumped out of the aircraft.”