His craft’s motor is running and the conditions look perfect for gliding with a cloudless blue sky, but sadly tragedy loomed.

Just 600 metres from the airport, after failing to gain high altitude, the glider struck power lines before crashing onto Redlands Road resulting in the death of Mr Rintesalo who was visiting from Finland.

His wife Cisco, who accompanied her husband on his trip to Australia, gave permission to The Border Mail to use the photograph.

She has placed flowers at the scene of the crash but declined to speak to The Border Mail.

Australian Soaring Centre chief instructor Grietje Wansink said a tribute to Mr Rintesalo was laid out at the airport on Saturday with flying items displayed next to a lit candle.

No pilots took off from the runway on Saturday out of respect for Mr Rintesalo, who had been planning to stay at Corowa until the end of the gliding season in February.

The crashed glider has been impounded at the airport with police and the Gliding Federation of Australia undertaking separate investigations.

Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson said the gliding federation would report its results to his organisation which may take further action depending on the findings.

Mrs Wansink said Mr Rintesalo’s death had been keenly felt by the gliding family.

“They’re all really shocked by it,” Mrs Wansink said.

“They were all friends with this pilot and the gliding community is really small all over the world and it’s really close so it’s a huge shock to the community and the community in Corowa because all the pilots are ... renting houses in Corowa,” she said.

“This was his sixth season in a row in Corowa and they all know the pilots because we don’t blend in because of the language difference so we’re all well known in town.”

Mrs Wansink said 28 pilots from across Europe had descended on Corowa for the gliding season.

They came from Britain, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Slovakia, Switzerland and Finland this season.