RALEIGH, N.C. — Since Friday, Emily Osborn hasn’t been able to go into her backyard, let alone look at the forest of trees that peer over her back fence.
Friday afternoon, she was working from home in Fuquay-Varina’s Sonoma Springs neighborhood when she heard the sound of a tree branch snapping. She thought little of the noise, as her house is backed by dense woods, and she carried on with her day.
It wasn’t until hours later that she learned the sound behind her house came from 23-year-old co-pilot and Raleigh resident Charles Hew Crooks. Crooks died after “exiting” a twin-engine cargo plane before his unnamed co-pilot made an emergency landing around 3 p.m. at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, about 24 miles north. He was taken to the hospital for minor injuries.
