A woman who taught gliding at a soaring club east of Edmonton was killed in a crash over the May long weekend.
RCMP Cpl. Mathew Howell says police responded to the crash in Lamont County, northeast of Edmonton, shortly after 3 p.m. on Monday.
One person was declared dead at the scene, police said, adding she was the lone person on board.
The Edmonton Soaring Club confirmed it was one of their members. The club operates out of a private “gliderport” airstrip near Chipman, about 45 minutes east of Edmonton.
Club president Doug Woytuik said it was the pilot’s second flight of the day and nothing seemed untoward as the gilder and its tow plane took off.
“She took off as per usual, released from tow. Nobody knew anything bad was happening. Nobody heard a radio call,” Woytuik said on Tuesday.
The glider crashed about two to three miles to the northwest of Chipman, just north of Highway 29.
Woytuik said a club member got a call from a neighbour that a glider had crashed in their field.
“By the time any of us got there, emergency services were already on site — police, ambulance, the like,” Woytuik said. The field was cordoned off while investigators combed the scene.
Police did not release details about the pilot on Monday because Howell said next-of-kin had yet to be notified, which on Tuesday Woytuik said had taken place.
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Woytuik said he believed the Edmonton woman was in her 40s and while he did not disclose her identity, he said she was an experienced pilot.
“She’d been flying since she was a teenager in the air cadets. She was an instructor in the air cadets, had taken a break from flying for a few years, and then came back flying with us several years ago,” he said, adding the woman became a gliding instructor with them.
“Very experienced, talented person,” he said.
“We’re shocked. We’re sad.”
The Edmonton Soaring Club has been operating out of the Chipman airstrip since 1972, with about a thousand flights a year, and Woytuik said this is their first fatality at that location.
“The whole community takes safety really, really seriously. These events are fortunately rare – it doesn’t make them any less tragic,” he said.
Woytuik said gliding is a fairly safe activity but like all aviation, comes with some risks.
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“When things do go wrong at altitude there there is a serious risk. A lot of people do wear parachutes – they don’t always help,” Woytuik said, adding the pilot was wearing one.
Their gliders are sturdy, he said, explaining they’re like a full airplane but without an engine.
“They are inspected by a professional aircraft mechanic every year before they’re allowed to fly — it’s a requirement of our insurance and it’s a requirement of flying at the club,” he said.
“Obviously, when something like this happens, it throws a lot questions into people’s mind and it should.
“It should give you a fresh set of eyes to look at everything you do and see if there’s anything that you are being complacent on.”
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said in a statement that the crash involved a privately registered Schleicher ASW 20 glider and it has deployed a team of investigators.
Woytuik said the club awaits the board’s report on the crash and any safety recommendations it suggests.
“One of the things that makes aviation so safe is that we treat these rare incidences as a rare opportunity to learn and get better. We don’t take them lightly when they do happen, they are always treated seriously.”
The flying club has grounded operations for the time being and Woytuik expects they’ll have a meeting this week on when it will be appropriate to resume flights.
With files from The Canadian Press
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