NTSB Preliminary Report Sheds Light on Copilot Mid-Air Departure

Copilot ‘got up from his seat, removed his headset, apologized, and departed the airplane via the aft ramp door.’

Tuesday, August 16, 2022 at 06:16 PM ET

Verified

The CASA 212 is a fixed-gear design with a ramp that lowers in the rear to allow for the egress of skydivers. [File Photo Courtesy: US Air Classics]

Key Takeaways:

A skydiving aircraft's copilot intentionally departed the plane without a parachute mid-flight after becoming visibly upset about a prior hard landing that damaged the aircraft.
The incident occurred during an emergency diversion to Raleigh-Durham International Airport, which was initiated by the pilot-in-command after the copilot's hard landing damaged the aircraft's right main landing gear.
Following the copilot's departure, the pilot-in-command successfully performed an emergency landing of the damaged aircraft at Raleigh-Durham, sustaining minor injuries.

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According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the copilot of a skydiving aircraft that made an emergency landing July 29 at Raleigh, North Carolina, intentionally departed the aircraft in flight without a parachute. According to the surviving pilot, the copilot was upset about the hard landing that damaged the airplane.

The report, released Tuesday, comes nearly three weeks after the CASA 212-200 was substantially damaged by a hard landing near Raeford, North Carolina.