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British pilot, 75, killed in glider crash in northern Spain
The light plane careened off the runway upon landing in the Pyrenees
Tributes have begun pouring in for 75-year-old British pilot Mike Evans, known affectionately as ‘Little Mike’ because of his small stature, who died after crashing his glider plane in the northern Pyrenees on Sunday afternoon, September 10.
The emergency services were called to the Santa Cilia aerodrome near the Spanish city of Jaca at around 4pm after Mr Evans’s glider careened off the runway upon landing and crashed into a tree.
Luis Ferreira, director of the Nimbus Aeroclub where the tragic accident occurred, explained that the pilot was conscious for around 40 minutes after the crash before he went into cardiac arrest and passed away at the scene.
Another member of the Aeroclub explained: “He was less than five feet tall and was getting on and probably didn’t have the attributes he needed to carry on gliding.
“But he was so passionate about it he just didn’t want to give up.
“He came in fast and high and went off the runway. He hit the trees fairly hard and although a post-mortem will have to determine his cause of death, I’m sure it’s going to decide it was linked to the force of the collision.”
Mr Evans was also a popular member of the Lasham Gliding Society at Lasham Airfield in Alton, Hampshire, one of the largest gliding clubs in the world, and had been a regular at the aerodrome in Spain since 1999.
An acquaintance of the victim described the tragic accident: “We saw him coming in to land from the aerodrome.
“Perhaps he was going a little fast and high but we’ll have to wait to see what the investigation says.
“We’ve known him a long time. He was a chef at a very important flying club in the south of London. He’s spent up to four months of the year here at times because of the passion he had for flying.”
In other news: British cyclist, 56, dies in Mallorca
Image: FlyPyr Santa Cilia
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