A FATHER who died in a gliding accident near Benalla yesterday has been described as a “well respected” and “experienced” member of the gliding community, leaving many of his fellow pilots in shock.
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Witnesses driving near the scene told police the 71-year-old Croydon man’s glider had looked like it was in distress before it spiralled down, crashing nose first into the ground at Chesney Vale shortly before 2pm.
The nose of the plane was crushed while the tail and part of one of the wings broke off, leaving a wreckage in a Mokoan Lake Road paddock.
Acting Sen-Sgt Harry Verbaken, of Benalla police, said they believed the pilot would have died on impact.
“Witnesses noticed a lack of altitude, it was fairly low to the ground and it was going slow,” Sen-Sgt Verbaken said.
“They said there were a lot of gliders around here and this one was too low, too slow and didn’t look like a normal flight.”
The pilot set out from Benalla airfield and is believed to have been flying his own glider.
Gliding Club of Victoria vice-president Tim Shirley is from Benalla and said the pilot was known to be cautious.
“The person concerned was a long-term club member and very well respected,” he said.
“He is not the sort of person you’d expect to have an accident.
“I did know this guy quite well, to lose someone who was a friend is obviously quite a shock and many people will feel that because it’s a small, closeknit community.
“The members are feeling shock and horror, people coming back from a good flying day to discover this news is really bad.
“A lot of people in this club and around the country will be quite affected by this.”
The crash happened during the gliding peak season and the ideal weather conditions made it a bigger shock, according to Mr Shirley.
He said the pilot was well liked and enjoyed the challenges of the sport.
“Fighting gravity without an engine is the thing we really appreciate,” he said.
“He wasn’t someone who went out and pushed the limits of the sport, he went out and enjoyed himself.
“It would be hard to find anyone with a bad word to say about him.”
A helicopter from the police air wing was called from Melbourne to survey the scene from the sky while SES crews worked to dismantle the wreckage.
The aircraft was taken to Benalla police station where it will undergo a mechanical inspection, while the man’s body will undergo a post-mortem examination to see whether there was an underlying health condition.
