Hang Glider Pilot Dies After Plunging Into Coast Near Pacifica
PACIFICA (CBS SF) -- The pilot of a hang glider that crashed into the Pacific Ocean off the coast near Pacifica was a 45-year-old San Francisco man who had taken off from Fort Funston in San Francisco, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office said Sunday night.
San Mateo County Sheriff's spokeswoman Detective Rosemerry Blankswade said witnesses reported seeing the hang glider land in the ocean at about 4 p.m. Sunday. The pilot unhooked himself from the glider, she said, but was unable to make it ashore due to the heavy surf and coastal cliffs.
Emergency personnel from several agencies were called about 4 p.m. Sunday to the coastline off Devil's Slide, just south of Pacifica in San Mateo County, on a report of a hang glider pilot plummeting into the water there, said Cal Fire Battalion Chief Tim Shiffer.
It was about an hour later when a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crew located the victim in the water approximately 1/8 of a mile south of where he landed in the water. The man was pulled from the water by a helicopter crew, unconscious and not breathing, Blankswade said.
The victim was then brought to paramedics waiting on a nearby bluff, where they immediately began CPR. Attempts to resuscitate the victim were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead at 5:29 p.m., Blankswade said late Sunday night.
His name was not being released Sunday night pending notification of family.
Shiffer said no reason has been established yet for why the pilot went down. It wasn't immediately clear whether the pilot was alone, or whether there were friends or family in the immediate area. The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office is investigating the accident.
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