Glider pilot dies in crash at Beauvechain air base, Belgium

A glider has crashed in Beauvechain, in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. The pilot, a man from Antwerp in his sixties, was killed. The mayor of Beauvechain has confirmed this.

The glider, owned by Avia Airsports, was being launched using a winch. Shortly after take-off, the glider was caught by a gust, which flipped it. At the time of the upset, the glider was at an altitude of between 10 to 20 metres, leaving it with no altitude to recover. The glider impacted the landing strip of the military base of Beauvechain (EBBE), destroying it and killing the pilot, just before 16:00.

The fire brigade of Wavre arrived on the scene, but the sixty-year-old from Antwerp who was alone on board did not survive the crash.

“While the glider was at a height of ten or twenty metres, the wing tilted. The lack of lift caused the plane to fall,” explains the commander of the military base.

“The accident happened during an exercise organised by a club at the military site,” Mayor Carole Ghiot added. “Subject to further information, the aircraft would have crashed on the runway during takeoff.”