AN INVESTIGATION into the causes of a glider crash which seriously injured the 15-year-old pilot has published its findings.

Olly Rastrick had to be put into an induced coma after the aircraft plunged nose first into the summit of Cross Fell, Cumbria, on August 7, 2019.

He was taken to hospital in Newcastle by the Great North Air Ambulance.

Olly had suffered a broken pelvis, femur, ankle and ribs, as well as a lacerated spleen and liver, plus a blood clot in his head.

Doctors said he could have bled to death if help did not arrive when it did.

When his parents came to the hospital, after travelling from the family home in Southampton, the first thing he said was "I need my Snapchat". 

Now the Air Accident Investigation Branch has published a report into the causes of the accident which saw the aircraft's tail "oscillate rapidly before breaking away from the glider".

It states that a structural failure was due to "flutter", where parts of the aircraft oscillate because of factors like turbulence - although it could not discount damage to the aircraft before or during the flight or ascertain the level of turbulence at the time of the crash.

However the accident was witnessed by two walkers who reported a "strong wind from the west".

They also "reported that during the latter stages of the first pass the glider was seen to bounce up and down, which was consistent with the glider flying in an area of turbulent air".

It also states that a number of other factors could have been involved in the crash.

These include design features which made it more suseptible to flutter, and that the wrong Rough Air Speed Limit, the maximum speed in which a gust will not overly stress the glider, was displayed in the cockpit. 

The reports states that "he would not have known that this limit was incorrect, and the permitted limit was 10 knots lower".

The glider was "flying between the Rough Air Speed Limit and Velocity Never Exceed" - the speed which could generate forces that damage the glider.

It also stated that the pilot had limited experience of "ridge flying" and "his is practical understanding of flying the ridges near Cross Fell was provided by another 15-year-old pilot while flying together in the same glider".

The report adds: "A number of safety actions have been taken to improve the supervision of young glider pilots."