Person jumps from aircraft landing at RDU

As a former .mil aviator and and having done a ramp ride or two, my only question is around thought process that results in not donning the harness as I approach the ramp. Sure, I can put my hand on the top half that opens inward and that’s relatively safe in a non-turbulent environment, but to take a gander at the MLG safely, I can only envision being on my belly just to alleviate line of sight problems while mitigating risk to me.
You're not in command of your wits so now you're on that ramp, sloping down, with no safety strap. One big bump and you're instantly gone, belly or not. No deliberate side-slip or PIC action (even awareness) needed. PIC not in command of his wits either, so he starts babbling nonsense.

What I want to know is who wiped that right MLG off, and how.
 
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What I want to know is who wiped that right MLG off, and how.
Yep. That’s why I’ve said it a couple of times. Everything else has relatively little context until those questions are answered.
 
There has apparently been some concern over the life cycle expectancy of the CASA 212 landing gear:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44650513

On the other hand the missing right main has apparently been found:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/233279775143

I'm not sure if the designers of the CASA 212 landing gear envisioned the numerous landings/takeoffs of a skydiving jump plane.
 
What if, and I am speculating here, what if the person that "jumped for the lake" did so because they wanted to say they were not the one that damaged the airplane. That they were never on the plane. And the pilot left in the plane said OK, he would take the hit because he was on more solid ground.

This could be a plan agreed on by both of them and when it went wrong...well there is only one person left to tell the story.
this is, hands down, the most preposterous scenario i have ever read in the mishaps sub
 
I’m still stuck on how (and what part of) the right MLG separated from the airframe.

Loosing a wheel on the first sortie after mx changed the tire is way different that a lot of other things that could have happened.

I posted this back on page 3. Looks to me like whole gear departed the plane.

681157795.jpg
 
I posted this back on page 3. Looks to me like whole gear departed the plane.

View attachment 109482
If the wheel departed the plane on the landing at Raeford, the gear leg would have done so at RDU.

Perhaps that is what the co-pilot was trying to ascertain. Maybe they knew they lost the wheel, and wanted to know if they were going to land on a smooth belly or a peg leg. The wheel is visible to the aircrew, but the gear leg is blocked from nearly all angles by the fairing. IMO the only unobstructed view of the gear leg would be from the ramp when fully lowered, per the picture I posted a few pages ago.

One assumption we all seem to have accepted is that the landing (edit: the "hard landing" at Raeford) was the cause of the gear departing. But that is just an initial observation by people under great stress. Could well turn out that the wheel/gear departure was due to a maintenance error or some sort of structural fatigue. The crew might have just been the unlucky saps in the seat when the part decided to fail or the bolt loosened enough. That would make the suicide scenario doubly tragic.

The landing at RDU was a fine piece of piloting, BTW. He held that side up until the last minute. A peg leg landing at high speed could have rolled that plane up into a ball.
 
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One assumption we all seem to have accepted is that the landing was the cause of the gear departing.
Not me. I think it's possible that the gear may have gotten taken out during the landing attempt. Or during the approach or departure. It may have hit a tree or something.
 
Not me. I think it's possible that the gear may have gotten taken out during the landing attempt. Or during the approach or departure. It may have hit a tree or something.

My post edited to clarify I meant the landing attempt at Raeford. We know the gear, or at least the wheel, was gone before the approach and landing at RDU.
 
One assumption we all seem to have accepted is that the landing (edit: the "hard landing" at Raeford) was the cause of the gear departing.
I'm w/@donjonston on this one. We don't know what caused the right MLG to become a dropped object. I'm not sure we we know who the PF was for the approach into Raeford and both of those answers help provide additional context into everything else that happened afterwards.

I will truly be unsurprised at whatever the various investigations unearth.
 
If the wheel departed the plane on the landing at Raeford, the gear leg would have done so at RDU.

Perhaps that is what the co-pilot was trying to ascertain. Maybe they knew they lost the wheel, and wanted to know if they were going to land on a smooth belly or a peg leg. The wheel is visible to the aircrew, but the gear leg is blocked from nearly all angles by the fairing. IMO the only unobstructed view of the gear leg would be from the ramp when fully lowered, per the picture I posted a few pages ago.

One assumption we all seem to have accepted is that the landing (edit: the "hard landing" at Raeford) was the cause of the gear departing. But that is just an initial observation by people under great stress. Could well turn out that the wheel/gear departure was due to a maintenance error or some sort of structural fatigue. The crew might have just been the unlucky saps in the seat when the part decided to fail or the bolt loosened enough. That would make the suicide scenario doubly tragic.

The landing at RDU was a fine piece of piloting, BTW. He held that side up until the last minute. A peg leg landing at high speed could have rolled that plane up into a ball.

I do not see any sign of the right main on his flyby at :45.

Questions remain after co-pilot ‘exited’ plane before emergency landing at RDU - YouTube
 
For a better tune, and in a mood more suited to the event:

 
A few posts have mentioned that the pilot couldn’t manually shut the door/s …isn’t there an autopilot? Couldn’t he engage ap then do whatever (throw copilot overboard etc) ?

maybe that plane is too big to move about or has some other logistical issue?
 
does anybody have a timeline of the major events here? i was just seeing that he told RDU tower that he had two souls aboard but the video made it seem like this occurred after the copilot left the aircraft. don't know if that was inaccurate or not.
 
does anybody have a timeline of the major events here? i was just seeing that he told RDU tower that he had two souls aboard but the video made it seem like this occurred after the copilot left the aircraft. don't know if that was inaccurate or not.

The pilot radioed the emergency to Fayetteville Approach, which would have been while en route to RDU. No communications with RDU Tower have been released to my knowledge, and LiveATC does not have any files for that time period.
 
The pilot radioed the emergency to Fayetteville Approach, which would have been while en route to RDU. No communications with RDU Tower have been released to my knowledge, and LiveATC does not have any files for that time period.
you're right, it was probably approach/center and not tower. this was the video i was looking at that had some coms
 
i have some chatter between SHADY 02 and KRDU. won't let me post the link because i'm new. just want to get the info out there. you can email me at cjmaitland@gmail.com and i'd be happy to send to you
 
the guy sounds way too calm for someone who just had a guy exit his plane.
 
the guy sounds way too calm for someone who just had a guy exit his plane.
Why?
Would you expect him to be freaked out?

It means nothing. I would expect him to be calm. He’s busy flying an airplane. Time to process the emotions later after the aircraft is on the ground.
 
Why?
Would you expect him to be freaked out?

It means nothing. I would expect him to be calm. He’s busy flying an airplane. Time to process the emotions later after the aircraft is on the ground.
did you listen to it?
 
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