Mountain rescuers join fire and rescue service members at the site of the glider crash. Photo: Edale MRT
Two mountain rescue teams helped in a major operation to free a pilot trapped after his glider crashed in the Peak District.
Edale and Buxton Mountain Rescue Teams were called out today when the 74-year-old man’s aircraft stalled and crashed into a tree in a gully about 1pm near the village of Abney in the Peak District.
The volunteer mountain rescuers joined members of Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service, the East Midlands Ambulance Service, the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Derbyshire Police in the operation to free the man who was trapped upside down in his stricken glider.
A spokesperson for the Edale MRT said: “While the pilot was receiving medical care from an Edale team doctor and the crew of the air ambulance, the fire service personnel helped to immobilise him and conduct a difficult extrication, considering the fact that he was upside down in the fuselage of his aircraft, which had broken apart on impact with the tree.
“Hydraulic cutting gear was used by the fire service to cut some of the wreckage to free the pilot, who was trapped by his lower legs.
“The pilot, who was conscious and breathing throughout, was calm and cooperative despite what must have been a traumatic and painful experience.”
Once free, the pilot was stretchered by mountain rescue and fire service members up a steep and slippery bank before he was given more treatment and his legs splinted. Rescuers said he had suffered fracture dislocations of both lower legs in the crash.
Dr Steve Rowe, who is a member of Edale team and works with the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, said: “The job went very well, despite the difficulties of a tricky extrication, and all the organisations at the scene worked together to achieve a good outcome for the patient.
“It was a good example of inter-agency cooperation between all the emergency services.”
Derbyshire & Lancashire Gliding Club is based at Camphill, a gliding field near Great Hucklow, 2km (1¼ miles) from the crash site.
