Pilot dies after glider crashes near Quebec City
The 54-year-old man unconscious when neighbours ran to pull him out of the aircraft
A 54-year-old man has died after his glider crashed Saturday evening near Quebec City.
The pilot was alone onboard when the sailplane suddenly took a pitch down towards Colline Avenue in Saint-Raymond-de-Portneuf, a city northwest of the provincial capital.
A witness saw the glider as it dove from the sky onto a driveway's car shelter, clipping the avenue's electric wiring.
"We were by the pool and a noise caught my attention," Anne Genois said. "I looked up and saw the glider come down, and then I heard the crash."
Nearby residents ran to his rescue as soon as it happened, but the man died in hospital.
Moments before the crash, Genois saw the plane twirling like a leaf in the wind before its abrupt plunge. She'd been watching it fly for about 10 minutes.
"There have always been gliders [sailing above here] and it's the first time I've seen this," Genois, who's lived in the area for 40 years, said.
She called 911 while friends went pull the man out of the wreckage.
The pilot was a member of the Club de vol à voile de Québec, a gliding club for the Quebec City region based near the crash.
Quebec's provincial police are investigating and haven't determined what caused it yet. As well, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada has been advised about the accident.
with files from Radio-Canada's Pascale Lacombe and Alain Rochefort