By Joe Fisher, WRAL reporter
The National Transportation Safety Board is taking over the investigation into the death of a man last week related to the emergency landing of the plane he was co-piloting.
The body of 23-year-old Charles Hugh Crooks was found Friday night in a Fuquay-Varina backyard, hours after the plane landed at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. It is unclear whether Crooks, who was one of the two pilots of the CASA 212-200, jumped or fell from the plane.
The news comes a day after the Federal Aviation Administration said it would lead the investigation.
The RDU Police Department said they interviewed the surviving co-pilot, whose name was not publicly released. RDU police have not released the incident report, citing the ongoing investigation. Airport police turned the interview over to the FAA and NTSB.
Preliminary information indicates the plane sustained significant damage to the landing gear and fuselage, according to the NTSB.
The NTSB will determine the scope of its investigation after more information is gathered. The board has not held any interviews since Tuesday.
WRAL News also requested interviews with the FAA and RDU Police.
Wake County Emergency Management Operations Manager Darshan Patel said the initial 911 call came in around 2:30 p.m. on Friday, July 29. The flight logs show that the emergency landing took place at 14:48
“After the plane landed, it was reconfirmed based on a report that the pilot said the second person on the plane had exited the plane before landing,” Patel said.
Patel said more than 80 people were involved in the search for Crooks.
“It was a pretty big search area at first, and we wanted to make sure we were using our resources effectively, but also efficiently, to do what we could for that individual,” Patel said.
Several law enforcement agencies were involved in the search for Crooks, including Wake County Emergency Management, the City of Cary, the City of Holly Springs, the City of Fuquay-Varina and the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.
“It was kind of a manual labor for the people who were in that area,” Patel said.
This is a developing story. Refresh the page for the latest information.
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