No glider crash found in Champaign Co.

UPDATE @ 3:38 p.m. Sept. 25

Champaign County authorities launched a search for the crash of an ultralight glider, but no crash scene was ever found, a dispatcher at the sheriff’s office said today.

The dispatch center received a report that a glider had crashed Saturday afternoon in the 2000 block of Kennard-Kingscreek Road. But those search efforts apparently did not result in any crash being found, contrary to information we had on Saturday.

UPDATE @ 7:45 p.m. Sept. 24

The search for the operator of an ultralight glider that crashed this afternoon was called off.

The crash was reported in the 2000 block of Kennard-Kingscreek Road in Salem Twp., but this evening there were no authorities on scene and it wasn’t known where the aircraft was taken.

FIRST REPORT Sept. 24

The operator of an ultralight glider aircraft that crashed this afternoon is not accounted for, according to the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office.

The crash was reported around 3:40 p.m. in the 2000 block of Kennard-Kingscreek Road in Salem Twp., between Bellefontaine and Urbana.

CareFlight, another ultralight glider and a drone all conducted a grid search in the area but were not able to locate the operator. The glider’s owner also has not been identified, according to the sheriff’s office.

The crash is under investigation by the sheriff’s office, and so far deputies have not been able to reach the Federal Aviation Administration.

Storm Center 7 Meteorologist Brett Collar said at that time the nearest weather station to the crash site in Bellefontaine was reporting winds out of the northwest at 6 mph with mostly cloudy skies. Visibility at ground level was clear, at 10 miles.