Katikati glider pilot 'critical'

Update 8.43pm: Police have yet to release the name of the pilot whose glider crashed this afternoon in Tauranga.

Bay of Plenty Police District Command Centre Senior Sergeant Karl Konlechner says police weren't releasing the pilot's name until family members had been notified.

Police look through the wreckage of the glider which crashed this afternoon. Photo: Christel Yardley/Fairfax NZ.

The incident happen at the Tauranga Airport at 3pm this afternoon. The glider crashed at the northwest end of the airport near Seawind Lane, off Jean Batten Drive.

Emergency services were called to the scene and the pilot was extracted from the aircraft and taken to Tauranga Hospital in a serious condition.

A 40-year old Katikati man is in a critical condition after a glider crash Tauranga Airport this afternoon.

The man is in Tauranga Hospital's intensive care unit.

UPDATE 7.20pm: A Katikati man in his forties is reported to be in a critical condition after the glider he was piloting crashed at Tauranga Airport.

Indications are the glider may have collided with trailers near the hangars. The glider was significantly damaged.

Update 3.56pm: The pilot of the crashed glider has sustained serious injuries says a fire service spokesman and is being treated in Tauranga Hospital.

The crash is understood to have occurred at the northwest end of the airport near Seawind Lane, off Jean Batten Drive.


Tauranga Airport. Photo: Staff.

Earlier 3.30pm: A pilot has been removed from the glider which crashed at the Tauranga Airport and is being treated by ambulance staff.

A fire service spokesman has told SunLive one person has been freed from the glider and is being taken to Tauranga Hospital.

Eariler 3.01pm:Emergency services are at the scene of a glider crash at the Tauranga City Airport.

Reports from a SunLive reader says a single-person glider has crashed at the airport on Jean Batten Drive, Mount Maunganui about 3pm today.

The witness told SunLive the glider crashed in the northwest corner of the airport and the pilot was being cut out of the glider.

Northern fire communications shift manager Scott Osmond says fire crews were at the scene and were helping ambulance crews with the extraction of the pilot.

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