10 September 2023 , 12:20
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Tributes have been paid to the British man who died in a gliding accident in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountain range yesterday.
Mike Evans, 75 — affectionately nicknamed Little Mike because of his height — died after he came off the runway and hit trees as he landed at the Santa Cilia aerodrome near the northern Spanish city of Jaca. Emergency responders received an alert around 4pm yesterday saying he was conscious and complaining of neck pain.
Local reports said he was alive for about 40 minutes after the accident but was pronounced dead at the scene after losing consciousness and going into cardiac arrest. Aerodrome director Luis Ferreira, who knew Mike well through the Nimbus Aeroclub based there, confirmed today people were with him as he lost his life. The club said in a Facebook tribute: "So long Mike. A pleasure having known you."
Police at the crash scene (SOLARPIX.COM)Another devastated Spanish friend wrote: "Dear Mike. Twenty-five years ago you decided the Santa Cilia Aerodrome was the best place to exercise your passion for gliding and flying over the Pyrenees. From then on you dreamed about the date you’d planned for your arrival every year, until that fateful September 9 2023.
"Over the years you have gained the respect and the affection of everyone, not just of locals in the village but of the places you have frequented regularly. There are many of us friends who feel the deep pain your departure has caused us. This September 9 has been a fateful day and a terrible accident has resulted in your last breath staying here with us, and this time forever. Happy flying dear friend. We will never forget you, small great man. So long."
Several others posted messages celebrating his life, including the owner of a local restaurant Mike used to frequent. Locals in the Jaca area said he was a member of the Lasham Gliding Society at Lasham Airfield in Alton, Hampshire, which has been described as one of the largest gliding clubs in the world.
One local who knew him from the Nimbus Aeroclub where he suffered his tragic accident, said: "He was less than five feet tall and was getting on and probably didn’t have the attributes he needed to carry on gliding. But he was so passionate about it he just didn’t want to give up. He came in fast and high and went off the runway. He hit the trees fairly hard and although a post-mortem will have to determine his cause of death, I’m sure it’s going to decide it was linked to the force of the collision."
Mike was famed for his abilities as a chef at Lasham Gliding Society and had also taken part in several charity events it organised. No one from Lasham Gliding Society was immediately available for comment at midday today but the club is expected to make a comment later today or tomorrow. Mr Evans is said to have been a regular at the Spanish aerodrome since 1999. Photos of the accident scene showed the damaged glider in undergrowth near the runway with its left wing against a fallen tree. Police tape had been put up around the fixed-wing aircraft.
An unnamed acquaintance quoted in a local paper said before Mr Evans was named: "We saw him coming in to land from the aerodrome. Perhaps he was going a little fast and high but we’ll have to wait to see what the investigation says. We’ve known him for a long time. He was a chef at a very important flying club in the south of London. He’s spent up to four months of the year here at times because of the passion he had for flying."
Santa Cilia Aerodrome is regarded as one of the best locations in Spain for gliding. The aerodrome hosted the Spanish National Gliding Championships in 2010 and is visited annually by hundreds of glider pilots from all over Europe.
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