Two killed in Queenstown hang glider crash

[Dave Homewood]

A commercial pilot from Queenstown and his voluteer firefighter passenger were killed this morning in a crash

This comes from The Press
www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/2248055/Hang-glider-deaths

Two die in hang glider crash
The Press Last updated 11:11 10/03/2009 Share Print Text Size Relevant offers Two people are dead after a tandem hang glider crash near Queenstown.

A spokeswoman for St John ambulance confirmed the two had died in the accident at 10.15 this morning.

Detective Sergeant Grahme Bartlett said the pair killed in the crash had been the commercial operator pilot and a volunteer fireman.

It is understood a number of volunteer firefighters had been in Queenstown over the weekend to attend a Fire Service conference.

Mr Bartlett said the dead Fire Service volunteer had stayed after the conference - along with four other fire officers - to take part in this morning's flight.

The flight had taken off from Remarkable Knoll, in the Remarkable Ranges, and crashed in a location known as Boyds Field.

He said another pilot had landed first, and turned around to see the hang glider crash.

"He's turned around and seen the hand glider go straight to the ground."

There were five witnesses to the crash, he said.

The bodies were being removed from the scene, and police were to conduct a full examination of the crash site.

The names of the victims and the commercial operator of the hang glider have not yet been released.

[philip]

I've noticed in recent weeks the high number of hangglider and parasailor accidents in the weekly CAA reports. This fatal one, along with the trike accident at Motueka makes me think a shake up is nigh if not due.

[Dave Homewood]

The 3 News reporter (who incidentally on three occasions during her report quite clearly called it a "hand glider") stated that the company operating the hang glider had a fatality six years ago too, and that accident and others at the time had sparked a shake up in the industry. Perhaps it wasn't shaken enough?

She also said a witness saw the wings fold backwards on themselves after a steep turn, and the pilot tried to deploy an emergency parachute to save them but it failed. That's a huge shame, and it shows even when you have the best of safety back-ups at your disposal they don't always work.

[flyjoe180]

The victims have been named. www.stuff.co.nz/national/2248056/Hang-glider-victims-named

[stu]

Industry shake ups (or lack thereof) aside, it must be remembered that two people died so condolences to all concerned.

Mar 10, 2009 17:16:29 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

The 3 News reporter (who incidentally on three occasions during her report quite clearly called it a "hand glider")

In every reference to it in the story she called it a "Hand Glider".

If it's any small consolation, I picked up the mispronunciation during checks just prior to air this evening and passed it on to the director who then passed it on to the producer who then said something that sounded like "duck".

At two minutes to on air it was far too late to change things but the reporter in question is now well aware that it's pronounced hang glider.

[Dave Homewood]

So her "live to air" piece wasn't live? Or did she botch it purposely then to be consistent?

[stu]

Mar 10, 2009 20:47:14 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

So her "live to air" piece wasn't live? Or did she botch it purposely then to be consistent?

Her live bit was live either side of the story but I don't recall the words hang glider being used in those bits, mind you - it was getting a bit busy so my full attention was not on what was being said. She was definitely told of the error directly in her earpiece just prior to on air.

Anyhow, drifting way off topic here.

Cheers,
Stu.

p.s. just re-read my first post, didn't mean to sound so grumpy sorry. The last few weeks are catching up with me

[Dave Homewood]

No worries Stu, your point about condolences was a valid one. The aftermath needs to come later but right now the close knight communities of Waipu and Queenstown are grieving the loss of two of their own. My ex-brother in law is a fireman and I know others in that profession, and I know they are a real band of brothers. This will hi them hard, especially as it was at one of their conferences and several witnessed the tragedy.

And for what it's worth, not that it's worth much, it was the live feed I first noticed the error and thought it was just nerves, but then the taped story said it again at least twice.