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17 Nov 2006, 12:02 pm / Other
Record glider pilot dies with son in peak crash
From Bernard Lagan in Sydney
ONE of Britain's most accomplished glider pilots has been found dead, with his son, in the wreckage of his aircraft on a mountainside in New Zealand.
A search party found retired RAF Air Commodore Owen Truelove, 67, of Cornwall, and his son, James, 37, in the remains of Mr Truelove's sophisticated German-made Stemme glider on Thursday afternoon. They had last been seen late on Wednesday afternoon soaring over the Lindis Ridge on the edge of the Southern Alps in New Zealand.
The pair had been reported missing at 8.30pm on Wednesday more than seven hours after they had taken off from the small Omarama airfield a popular gliding venue. They had been competing in a gliding competition.
Mr Truelove had been a glider pilot for nearly 50 years. In 2004 he flew his motorised Stemme glider from Britain to New Zealand a 14,700-mile (23,500km) journey that had never before been attempted in a low-powered glider.
Mr Truelove's flight path took him across more than 20 countries, including Germany, Oman, India, Malaysia and Australia. He completed the longest and most treacherous leg of the journey the 530-nautical mile trip over water from Norfolk Island to New Zealand in five hours.
During the journey from Britain Mr Truelove flew solo for a total of 170 hours. Along the way he was fκted by Saudi royalty and stranded in India for 16 days because of engine problems.
The small engine on the machine was intended only for take-offs and to enable the glider to maintain altitude, but its more frequent use enabled Mr Truelove to reach New Zealand in about ten weeks.
Mr Truelove was always reticent when asked about his achievement and uttered just a few words to the scores of journalists who greeted him upon his arrival in New Zealand in his glider: "Wonderful so super to be here."
The Air Commodore, an engineering officer in the RAF for 33 years who rose to become director of engineering and an expert on nuclear weapons, decided to fly his glider to New Zealand in response to the high cost of shipping.
He kept his glider in New Zealand to take advantage of what he considered to be the best gliding conditions in the world, around Omarama. He is listed as president of the Omarama Gliding Club but maintained a home in Cornwall. His son, James, had moved to New Zealand and worked as a paragliding instructor. The wreckage of their aircraft was spotted from a helicopter on a high gravel slope near Mount Prospect, about 20 miles (30km) west of Omarama, yesterday afternoon. Their bodies were recovered by a team that landed from a helicopter and had to battle strong winds and driving rain. Bill Walker, a spokesman for the Omarama Gliding Club, said that the glider's fuselage was intact but that the wings were in three pieces.
The weather in the Southern Alps at the time of the crash was described by police Sergeant Wayne Brew as extreme. Mr Walker said that although the weather was demanding, its severity did not justify suspending the competition.
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