Pilot saved by jumping (From Stroud News and Journal)

Pilot saved by jumping

A PILOT with more than 30 years of flying experience cheated death after he was forced to parachute out of a glider over Frocester Hill.

The glider then continued on course without anyone at the controls before it eventually crash landing at the Bristol and Gloucester Gliding Club at Nympsfield

Graham Morris,50 who is a British Aerospace systems engineer had taken the AC5T glider to 3,000 feet when he experienced problems with the control system.

He told the SNJ: "The pivot point had come adrift and I wasn't effectively getting full control of the glider ."

Remaining cool and calm Mr Morris from Yate put his decades of flying experience to use and made the decision to bail out of the aircraft.

"The flight was stable enough but as I looked around the glider I could see that the air brakes had gone," he said.

"I actually had time on my side but wasn't 100 per cent certain I would be able to land so I made the logical decision to leave the aircraft."

He picked out a field near farm land close to Frocester Hill which he thought would provide him with a soft landing.

"I was more concerned about where the glider was going to end up as I made my own escape," said Mr Morris.

And he added: " I eventually came down on scrub land on the boundary of the field."

Suffering just a few bruises and a graze to his knee Mr Morris could hardly believe his luck as he walked calmly away from the scene with his life intact.

"My landing was close to the road so I walked a few hundred yards before I was picked up by colleagues from the gliding club," he said.

Mr Morris was relieved to find the glider had crash landed at the airfield suffering structural damage to the fuselage.

But his lucky escape was somewhat tarnished when he tried to collect his tangled parachute later from the hedgerow in the field in which he had landed.

"I couldn't believe it," he said. " I went back to get my parachute but it had gone."

Accident investigators are now examing the glider.

Police would like to speak to anyone who may have been offered or saw the parachute which is worth between £500 and £600.

Call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

For more news from the Stroud area, see this week's Stroud News & Journal.