The scene of the glider crash on The Cheviot. Photo: NNPMRT

Mountain rescuers were called out after a glider crashed on The Cheviot on the Scotland-England border.

Rescuers praised a pair of walkers who cared for the injured pilot until they arrived.

Northumberland National Park and North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Teams were alerted at 2.20pm on Sunday after the aircraft crashed high on the south-east side of the hill.

A spokesperson for the Northumberland National Park team said: “The teams were immediately called out and a hasty team of two members were deployed on to the hill within 40 minutes to try locate the crashed glider as soon as possible.

“Progress was hampered by snowstorms and the low cloudbase, which meant the Great North Air Ambulance Service was unable to land near to the crash site.

“Further team members with a Bell stretcher, vacuum mattress and winter casualty bag, the medical team from GNAAS and two Northumberland Fire & Rescue Service personnel with lightweight cutting equipment were then airlifted by the Coastguard search and rescue helicopter from Prestwick to Scald Hill.

“From there they had to make progress on foot to the crash site. By this time the mountain rescue hasty team had located the crashed glider, after which further mountain rescue hill parties were deployed with technical rope rescue kit to assist with lowering the stretcher to below the cloud base.

“Following an assessment of the pilot by the GNAAS medical team, he was transferred to the Bell stretcher. A 400m lower in darkness down the side of The Cheviot then followed to a location below the cloudbase. Thankfully the Coastguard helicopter was able to land on and the pilot was transferred into the helicopter for onward transport to hospital.

The pilot was secured in a mountain rescue stretcher. Photo: NNPMRT

“The teams would like to pay particular thanks to the two walkers who went to the aid of the pilot and remained with him until mountain rescue personnel arrived on scene. They did an exceptional job of keeping the pilot calm and provided him with additional clothing.

“We would also like to thank the gamekeeper who transported two team members up on to the hill on his quad bike.”

The eight-hour incident involved 29 mountain rescue volunteers.

In the past week the two north-east team dealt with four other incidents.

On Tuesday they were called to Housesteads on Hadrian’s Wall for a collapsed walker who sadly died. Team members helped recover the body.

Two days later Teesdale and Weardale Search and Mountain Rescue Team requested the teams’ help in an ongoing search in Pittington near Durham. Northumbria Police then requested their assistance for a high-risk missing person in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The two teams also responded to an injured competitor in the Montane Spine Race – the non-stop race along the full 268 miles of the Pennine Way from Edale to Kirk Yetholm. The spokesperson said: “The competitor had collapsed on the moors north of Bellingham and was found by a fellow competitor, who cared for him until the event’s safety arrived to provide emergency care.

“The teams were then called to evacuate the competitor from the hill.”