Original Message

My guess would be that the young copilot was making the landing at the 4,200' jumper strip at Raeford, NC. He must have pranged it pretty good and the PIC called for a go-around. As they were doing that, someone must have radioed that they lost the right wheel. Then, enroute to RDU for an emergency landing, the copilot probably went back to assess the damage by laying down as posters have described above. Maybe turbulence caused him to lose his grip and he slid/fell out. Very sad and tragic. Can't imagine how bad that PIC feels right now. Copilot seemed like a nice kid.