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Inquest hears of Combe Gibbet paragliding tragedy





Fellow pilots and paramedics battled in vain to save 64-year-old former SAS soldier William Young after his canopy collapsed and he plummeted 100ft into the hillside at Combe Gibbet near Hungerford.
The hearing in Newbury Town Hall was told that there were around 10 other paragliders in the air above the landmark at the time, although some pilots had decided conditions were too risky to fly.
Earlier in the day, on July 29 last year, Mr Young had safely soared to cloudbase - the lowest altitude of the visible portion of the cloud mass.
But he made the fateful decision to continue flying as the weather deteriorated.
Safety officer with Thames Valley Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club, Matt Rawlins, said he had chosen not to fly as conditions deteriorated that day, although he watched Mr Young and around 10 others in the air.
He said Mr Young was the victim of a “cascade of events,” adding: “First the wing collapsed on the right, then the left and then a complete collapse. I’ve never seen a wing get into such a mess. “He pendulumed and accelerated towards the hillside.”
The chief instructor at Wiltshire-based Cloudbase Paragliding club, Lee Bligh, told the inquest he saw Mr Young, of Hedge End, Southampton, take off again and start to climb.
He said: “Then the right side of his canopy collapsed. He turned into the collapsed side which reinflated it. He flew for a second before the whole canopy folded into itself. I’ve seen a handful of collapses over the last 10 years but never seen one like this. He began to fall and I heard him shout...he disappeared behind the brow of the hill.”
Mr Bligh ran to the spot where other pilots were already tending to the stricken man.
He said: “I assisted with first aid. At first there was a good, strong pulse but soon his breathing became laboured and then ceased.”
Mr Bligh and others continued with cardio pulmonary resuscitation until paramedics and an air ambulance arrived.
Hungerford neighbourhood police team officer, Pc Claire Drewitt, said she arrived at 12.54pm during the resuscitation attempt and added: “Five or six bystanders were helping by holding up a drip and keeping the (flying) kit out of the way.”
Despite adrenalin shots and emergency field surgery, Mr Bligh was pronounced dead at the scene.
Post mortem tests revealed Mr Young died from cardiac arrest after sustaining multiple injuries.
Witnesses told the hearing that Mr Young was an extremely responsible and experienced pilot who had succumbed to a freak thermal gust at the worst point into a flight - too high to survive a fall but too low to deploy an emergency parachute.
Assistant Berkshire coroner Emma Jones recorded a verdict of misadventure.
Mr Young is survived by three children, Gary, Kay, and Guy, and by seven grandchildren.
The family plans a trip to Combe Gibbet to see where Mr Young died and daughter Kay said after the hearing: “Dad was an adventurer and he died at a beautiful spot doing something he loved.”



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