Glidefly i mid-air

Pilot jumps from glider at 4,500 feet following mid-air crash

Glider pilot leaps from cockpit and parachutes to safety after wing breaks off his aircraft in midair collision


A glider pilot escaped serious injury after he leapt from his aircraft following a collision with another glider Photo: Martin Boss/Geoff Robinson


A glider pilot lept out of his aircraft and parachuted to safety after a mid-air collision at 4,500 feet.
The pilot Andrew Preston, 70, from Banbury, baled out after the wing of his glider broke off in a collision with another glider during a competitoin in Cambridgeshire.

Mr Preston, who has been gliding for 19 years and is a member of Banbury Gliding Club, described how his glider was flipped upside down in the collision.

He opened the canopy, undid his seat buckle and fell out of the glider. He escaped with a fractured vertebrae and a cut on his leg.

Mr Preston, who has done more than 1,000 hours of flying, said: "The other glider seemed to come out of nowhere. There was a very loud crash and my glider seemed to immediately tip upside down.

"It was very scary. It was like a car crash in the air. I was very lucky to get out.
"It all happened very quickly. I had to open the canopy, then release the buckle and I fell out of the glider, then pulled the parachute.



"I've done more than 1,000 hours of flying and I enjoy gliding and competitions - nothing like this has ever happened before.

"The parachute was very small, so it was a bit like jumping from a 15ft height and people often break their bones.

"I was extremely lucky and only fractured a vertebrate in my back and cut my leg on the glider. I was in shock and spent a few days in hospital, but I am fine now."

Mr Preston was taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge after the accident.
His glider crashed upside down in a field near Little Paxton in Cambridgeshire and the broken wing landed nearby.

The pilot of the second glider was able to land safely on an airfield near Bedford. The accident in now being investigated by the British Gliding Association (BGA).

The pilots were taking part in the week-long Hus Bos Challenge Cup on Saturday afternoon, which had 35 contestants, and each glider was believed to have been flying at around 50mph.
They were flying from the Gliding Centre at Husbands Bosworth, near Market Harborough in Leicestershire.

The dramatic incident was captured on camera by Martin Boss, who lives nearby.
Mr Boss, an electronics engineer, had been in his garden trying to get photos of birds when he saw the gliders about half a mile away.

The 45-year-old, who used a 400mm lens to capture the moment, said it was a shock to see the two gliders collide and one start to break up.

He said: "There were about half a dozen to eight gliders and I took some pictures of them. Then two of them touched each other, one of the wings came off, and it went straight down."
Pete Stratten, chief executive of the BGA, said: "This type of accident happens very rarely, it is a relatively safe sport but everybody does accept there is a greater risk than climbing on a commercial aircraft."

He said each glider would have been flying around 50mph and the force of the crash was enough to separate the wing from the glider.
He added: "The pilot jumped out effectively and the other pilot landed immediately."
The Hus Bos Challenge Cup runs until Sunday (August 3).