A GLIDING instructor and his female passenger suffered leg injuries after a training exercise went wrong and the craft nosedived 30ft to the ground.
Air ambulances flew the 53-year-old trainer and his 57-year-old passenger to Royal Preston Hospital after they were cut free from their crashed aircraft, at the Bowland Forest Gliding Club in Chipping.
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An investigation is now set to be launched by the Civil Aviation Authority after club officials reported yesterday’s incident to the watchdog.
The crash, just before 11.30am, is thought to be the most serious at the remote gliding school since the deaths of a pilot and passenger, which crashed shortly after take-off in February 2003.
Pilot Martin Moss, of Penwortham, near Preston, and passenger David Rukin, from Whalley, lost their lives after the winch cable for the glider became entangled in a tail wheel.
The weekend’s crash is said to have occurred while the instructor, who has not been named, and the passenger were performing a ‘failed launch’ exercise, which is designed to replicate what would happen during a problem-hit take-off.
Insp Gary Carter, of Lancashire Police, said: “The two people involved were conscious and breathing when the emergency services arrived on the scene, at around 11.25am.
“The instructor had been carrying out a practice exercise known as a ‘failed launch’, where the glider is taken up to 50 feet and then released. The glider appears to have nosedived to the ground for the final 30 feet or so.”
The injuries were not said to be life-threatening and the club had self-reported the matter to the CAA which could trigger an inquiry by the Air Accident Investigation Branch.
John Taylor, a Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman, said crews from Clitheroe and Longridge stations were alerted to the incident, at Lower Cock Hill Farm, Fiddler’s Lane, Chipping, and were told that the two injured parties were trapped in the aircraft but still conscious. He added: “The firefighters used hydraulic cutting equipment to release the casualties, who were taken separately to Royal Preston Hospital in each of the two air ambulances mobilised to the incident.”
Later, the glider was removed from the scene for inspection.
No-one from the club, which has been operational for more than 60 years and is a member of the British Gliding Association, was available for comment last night.
Another incident involving a launch cable saw a glider written off at the Chipping site in May 2008. The pilot walked away without injuries.
Several paragliding flights from the Pennine Soaring Club on nearby Parlick Pike, still went ahead as the incident unfolded across the valley.
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