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SYDNEY - A trainee pilot was decapitated when his glider was prematurely released while being towed and crashed into a wire fence in north-eastern NSW, a witness and police say.
The glider lifted off just after noon (AEDT) from Keepit airstrip, 30km north west of Tamworth, Lake Keepit Soaring Club media representative Geoff Neely said.
The glider was connected via a 60m-long cable to a propeller plane and being towed down the runway.
Both planes lifted off but the pilot of the plane was forced to release the cable because it was in danger of hitting a row of trees at the end of the runway, Mr Neely said.
"If for any reason you're not climbing, either pilot can release (the cable)," Mr Neely said.
"The power aircraft, relieved of that drag, has a bit of chance of climbing away. If the climb hadn't recovered he may have hit the trees at the far end."
The propeller plane recovered and landed safely, he said.
The glider made a controlled landing on the runway but was unable to stop as it ran off the end of the runway and slammed into a wire fence.
A 38-year-old Sydney man was riding in the front seat of the glider's cockpit and the plane's instructor in the rear seat.
The Sydney man was decapitated, a police spokeswoman said.
The instructor sustained minor injuries and was treated at the scene by ambulance officers.
The glider's instructor declined to comment about the man's death but said the downward pressure from local weather may have played a role in the accident.
"I think it was due to weather conditions because we had a severe downburst in the area from thunderstorms in the area," he said.
NSW Police Force air crash investigators would continue their inquiries into the incident, a spokeswoman said.
- AAP
