Glider pilot named in fatal crash

The crash site (Newshub)
The crash site (Newshub)

The glider pilot who fatally crashed on Saturday in north Otago has been named.

He was Christchurch man Murray John Philpott, aged 55 years.

Mr Philpott began flying around 1pm on Saturday from Omarama, a small town in the Waitaki District in Otago.

He was reported missing by Omarama Gliding at 8:20pm. The pilot had not left a flight plan or requested flight following.

The wreckage of his relatively new aircraft was located on Sunday night in the Ben Ohau Range near Twizel. He was the only one on-board.

The glider had not been fitted with an emergency location transmitter that activates automatically.

Lyttelton Naval club racing secretary Ross May says Mr Philpot was one of New Zealand's A-class catamaran sailors and held countless numbers of national titles.

"To do what he's done, he's obviously very intelligent, and dedicated and a focused kind of a person," he says.

He says he has a great deal of respect for him.

"He's been able to sail these high-performance boats and make it look very easy."

Mr May says he can see why Mr Philpot enjoyed gliding as it was similar to sailing catamarans.

Newshub.