Wind may have played role in crash

High winds may have played a factor in Friday afternoon’s fatal glider crash just south of the Ferndale Airfield.

Sheriff Chuck Curry said there were heavy gusts at the time of the crash, but the Federal Aviation Administration will determine the ultimate cause.

There was a high wind advisory in place on Flathead Lake at about 5 p.m. when the glider went down. Ferndale is only a few miles from the lake.

The name of the 61-year-old Lakeside resident killed in the crash will be released Monday, Curry said. A second occupant — a 70-year-old Washington man —  was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle Friday night. The man was operating a school for gliders at the airfield, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Curry said the man underwent surgery and will likely recover from his injuries.

“He’s in pretty rough shape, but I think, all in all, he’s not doing too bad,” Curry said.

A witness who saw the glider come down came forward Saturday morning. He provided investigators with some details as to the final movements of the glider.

Curry said the information provided some new technical evidence on how it crashed.

“Of course why it happened is the big question,” he said.

Emergency responders rushed to the crash scene in the front yard of a home just south of the grassy Ferndale Airfield runway Friday afternoon.

The motorless glider was being towed by a Piper Pawnee airplane shortly before the crash occurred. The pilot of the plane told investigators that the occupants of the glider were planning to execute a 180-degree maneuver simulating an emergency cable disconnection shortly before it went down.

The Lakeside man, who had out-of-state identification, was pronounced dead at the scene. The Washington man was airlifted to Kalispell Regional Medical Center and later flown to Harborview.