Unfortunately a lot of young people these days seem to believe that. One bad grade, one bad write-up, one bad review, and they think the world is ending. Reading the details that are leaking out, I've changed my thinking that this was an accident, and instead was indeed an intentional act.
I flew for rampart part time before they moved HQ out to Colorado. It was a good time. the whole situation is very sad.
Kind of hard to push someone out the back while flying the airplane.... Two very different stories being circulated online. One that he intentionally jumped and one that he fell out while trying to get a look at the gear. In the end, the deceased may be the only person who truly knows what happened.
Walking towards the rear door and a sudden forward push on the yoke and a stomp on one rudder pedal could have done it. But we will never know until we hear the pilots story. And I can't imagine how the pilot is feeling now.
Not saying this is what happened, but you want a possible motive: maybe the co-pilot was the only other person who knew the pilot broke the aircraft.
It very well could have been accidental. There was an altitude and speed deviation right around the point where the copilot departed the aircraft.
There are some really ODD speculation on this thread, some of which tells me more about the psychology of the poster than the tragic victim. Let's just assume he was trying to help, looked out the back ramp without a harness and fell, OK? Anything else is just bringing grief to some family and harm to the reputation of the pilot who did a pretty good landing on two wheels. Wait for the NTSB to weigh on. And the one article people are quoting is so sloppy in its reporting.... two "co-pilots" . . . that it's not worth mentioning.
The problem I have with the whole back ramp theory is I don’t know any aircrew walking around a cargo hold with an open ramp who isn’t tethered to the plane. Just doesn’t make any sense to me at all, but nothing about this incident does. I have no idea what happened, all I know is there’s only one person around who can tell the tale.
That’s hands-down the most likely scenario, but I think we’ve all read aircraft accident stories that ended up being weirder than we ever could have imagined. There’s a live witness, and not much coming out yet - I think that’s the biggest factor causing people to speculate. Those kinds of narrative details should and will come out long before the NTSB report.
The back ramp theory is easily figured out. A young co-pilot who is not a loadmaster in any sense, decides to take a look to see how bad it is. Stressful situation, doesn't think of the tether, just wants to peek around the corner and see. Probably has very limited experience being in the back with the ramp open and the air pressures working on a person there, perhaps with a thunderstorm bump at the same time. Tragically easy.
It was the summer of 2011. The pilot that checked me out in the otter and king air is still a regular contact for me. He left rampart around 12 or ‘13. Since I was part time I never typed in the casa, only flew as a copilot. There was a Tony working there at the time but I honestly don’t remember his last name. The chief pilot is dead. I’m not sure if Greg F. is still in management but I think he moved on… it’s been a few years :-/
Bruce P and Tony P were the founders and owners of NEK, which at some point became Rampart's parent company. They sold part of the company and split up the rest about 5 years ago. Tony kept Rampart and still runs it from the Springs.
Not the same Tony. The guy I remember was an OG pilot for Paul F. before NEK formed rampart and bought the skydive operation.
The pilot was probably fine, he just figured it would be cheaper to demand to be taken away in an ambulance.
One thing that hasn’t been emphasized. For those that say it was the SIC going to check on the damage, that sure makes the PIC look real bad. As a PIC, no way I’d want an untethered SIC getting out of his seat to check on the gear via the rear ramp. There are plenty of binoculars in the tower at RDU.
man you guys sure have some wild theories. suicide, sole manipulator intentionally throwing him out, wow.
Given how many suicides by airplane we’ve talked about here in the last few years, I don’t think that one is “wild” enough to throw out.
Lots of speculation here.... All plausible, but I highly don't think the timing of having a bad landing and suicidal thoughts would be on the same flight, but you never know. My guess is accident.
Regardless of how it’s tragic. At the beginning of a life and gone. It won’t matter to him but for his family I really hope it was an accident.
According to a local news org, the pilot told police the co-pilot jumped "aiming for a lake they flew over." Dunno if that means he was trying to off himself without injuring someone on the ground, or if he somehow thought that might be survivable due to the water.
Not poking at you personally Ed, but it always amazes me how people never trust the news until it’s got juicy/sensational details and then they take media quotes like facts. Why should we believe the media is anymore accurate in quoting the pilot than there are at anything else?
