The pilot in a fatal glider crash near Diamond Valley on May 29 has been identified as a 65-year-old male resident of Calgary, according to a Turner Valley RCMP media release.
The victim, who is not being named at this time, had been competing in the 2024 Canadian National Soaring Championships, an event which has since been cancelled.
"I cancelled the contest yesterday as soon as the word came in of the crash," said competition director Tony Burton. "Given the forecast of rain today, last night at a gathering of the pilots, we cancelled the competition entirely."
The championship, hosted by the Cu Nim Gliding Club, began on May 22 and was set to conclude on May 31, but Burton said this year's competition had already been declared a "no contest" due to weather concerns.
"The competition requires at least four scoreable days in order for it to be an official contest," he said. "Unfortunately, the weather over these last two weeks has been very unstable and rainy, and we've only managed a single scoreable competition day... basically, the scoring, the contest was cancelled early."
Twenty-eight pilots from throughout Western Canada were registered for the competition.
The victim was described as an experienced cross-country pilot who had taken part in the contest before.
"He's been a member of [Cu Nim Gliding Club] for a long, long time," said Burton. "He's been a well-regarded, very influential person in the club."
The crash was reported to RCMP at approximately 1:30 p.m. on May 29 and happened in a field south of Highway 7, approximately 18 kilometres west of Okotoks and seven kilometres east of Diamond Valley. The victim was the lone occupant of the aircraft and was declared deceased at the scene.
The incident, which left the glider and the pilot's body separated by approximately 100 metres, is under investigation by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
"That process can take months before an initial report is provided to the community, and then it could be years before the final report is issued, so that can be a very lengthy process for obvious reasons," said Jason Acker, president of the Alberta Soaring Council.
"Clearly it was an incident that motivated the pilot to eject and attempt a parachute recovery," he added.
The Alberta Soaring Council represents four member organizations, including Cu Nim Gliding Club, and is responsible for coordinating competitions.
Acker stated this year's competition is definitively cancelled but could not comment on other competitions across Canada or future iterations of the event.
"Generally, soaring is a safe sport, but it does come with risks," he said. "There's many steps that are taken to manage those risks with the skilled pilots that are involved in the competitions, but even with all of that, there are risks, and unfortunately, yesterday, the worst of those risks manifested and we lost one of our pilots."
