Motorized glider in Clark hot air balloon fiesta crashes; pilot safe
Organizers of the festival could not be contacted, but residents of Capaya I reached by The STAR by cell phone said they saw the glider hit the ground near a bridge of the North Luzon Expressway.
Jab Tolentino, a resident of the barangay, said the glider’s pilot had no passenger and was apparently unharmed during the incident.
Local folk who assisted the pilot said he was an Australian, but they did not remember his name.
At least two private helicopters were seen hovering over the accident area and one of them reportedly picked up the unharmed pilot.
Ronnie Tiotuico, regional director of the Department of Tourism, said he was not aware of the accident, adding though that one of the hot air balloon fiesta’s participants was a lone “hang glider that had a motor at the back.”
The hang glider was apparently among the scores of small aircraft in the annual event that has attracted 12 giant hot air balloons, 19 of them flown by foreign pilots from 13 countries.
Apart from balloonists from the Philippines, the other participants come from Sweden, United States, Hungary, Thailand, Malaysia, Germany, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Finland, Japan, Switzerland, England, and South Korea.
Earlier, organizers also announced the participation of four paragliders, three from
Ultra-light aircraft formation flying, ultra-light bomb dropping exercises with audience participation, skydiving exhibitions, radio control aircraft flying, paragliding exhibition, rocketry demonstration, search and rescue flying exhibition, choreographed kite flying exhibition, and a helicopter flying exhibition are also held daily during the four-day event.
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