A glider plane that went missing after it was released by a tow plane over Methodist Mountain south of Salida on Friday crashed and killed the pilot, authorities say.
The glider was located at 9:20 p.m. Saturday in rugged terrain near where it was released 1,000 feet above the mountain, said Lt. Mark Young of the Colorado wing of the Civil Air Patrol.
Stewart Kissel of Vail was the pilot.
Beginning at 7 a.m. Saturday, 11 Civil Air Patrol planes searched an 11,000-square-mile area for Stewart’s glider after he failed to land at Salida Airport on time, Young said.
The lightweight Schempp-Hirth glider plane is built for one person, he said. “They’re pretty fragile,” Young said.
During the search, one of the patrolling planes spotted what looked like the wreckage about 7:30 p.m. The terrain hampered crews’ efforts to reach the site, Young said.
“It took an hour-and-a-half just to get up there by four-wheeler,” Young said. “It was another hour-and-a-half before foot teams located the wreck in the dark.”
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
