Veteran 85-year-old pilot broke neck following landing in 'unsuitable field'
An 85-year-old glider pilot who took off from a Shropshire airfield broke his neck after landing in an "unsuitable field", an inquest into his death has heard.
Nicholas Gaunt was taking part in a gliding competition and had taken off from Long Mynd Airfield in south Shropshire at 2.48pm on July 7 last year.
Assistant Gloucestershire Coroner Roland Wooderson heard at an inquest last week that at around 5.30pm at the end of his flying day, Mr Gaunt, who was from Helmsley in North Yorkshire, landed in a field that was "uphill and rough".
The veteran pilot, who had 70 years' experience, collapsed moments after stepping out of his Glaser-Dirks DG-300 following the landing in Winchcombe in Gloucestershire.
He was flown to Southmead Hospital in Bristol but died 20 days later from pneumonia, which he contracted following spinal surgery.
The assistant coroner said: "He had sustained a C7 spinal fracture which was operated on on July 8. He was admitted to intensive care. Pneumonia set in on July 24, his condition deteriorated and he died on July 27."
Mr Wooderson added that an Air Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) inquiry was carried out which found that Mr Gaunt had 3,900 hours of flying time.
Reading out a report from the AAIB, the assistant coroner said Mr Gaunt had done more than than 220 field landings and was a regular participant in competitions.
According to the report, the choice of field Mr Gaunt chose to land in had been "out of character" but the "position of the sun, the size and colour of other fields and their crops as well as the possibility of dehydration during a warm day may have contributed to the decisions that the pilot made".
"He landed heavily and bounced," the report said. "He felt his neck had been injured. The glider ended up embedded in a fence. He got out and took a few steps but lost feeling in his legs and fell to the ground."
The AAIB said the crash caused damage to the lower forward fuselage, a broken canopy, and damage to both wings. The main landing gear was forced back into wheel well.
The inquest heard how Mr Gaunt's GPS flight computer had stopped working some 40 minutes before the crash because of a charging problem.
The failure meant he might have been unable to select a better field to land in or reach a gliding club 11 miles away where he could land more safely.
The report outlined how the pilot had been suffering from a condition known as ankylosing spondylitis, a long-term condition in which the spine and other parts of the body become inflamed, which could have left Mr Gaunt with a weakened vertebrae.
Mr Wooderson recorded a verdict of accidental death.
Mr Gaunt, a married father of two, had begun gliding at the age of 15 and had been a member of the Yorkshire Gliding Club.
Following his death last year, a statement by the gliding club described Mr Gaunt as a "warm, encouraging and supportive man" who "will be sorely missed".
