One person has died after a glider crashed onto the Hawkes Bay Golf Club course near Hastings Aerodrome this afternoon.
Emergency services responded to the scene on Valentine Road around 12:15pm. Police later confirmed the sole occupant of the aircraft was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to the NZ Hearld, a witness who had been golfing near the No. 10 fairway described seeing the glider being towed by a light plane when problems began. “We looked up and the plane was just struggling with its engine, it skipped a beat and another and you could feel something was wrong,” he said.
According to the witness, the glider was positioned high above the towing aircraft with an almost vertical rope between them. The rope then separated—it wasn’t clear if intentionally or accidentally—causing the glider to descend rapidly onto the fairway.
After the crash, the witness reported that the towing aircraft circled the scene repeatedly for several minutes.
The Bridge Pā Aerodrome has been closed, with people being turned away. The golf course had a tournament scheduled for today, according to a board outside the club.
The Civil Aviation Authority confirmed it has been notified of the accident and investigators are traveling to the scene. “In the coming days our focus will be on understanding what happened and why,” the CAA said in a statement.
