Cross Fell glider crash: Pilot, 15, wakes from coma

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Olly Rastrick in planeImage source, GREAT NORTH AIR AMBULANCE
Image caption,

The teenage pilot had spent two years with gliding associations before the crash

A 15-year-old glider pilot has woken from a coma after he crashed on the highest mountain in the Pennines.

Olly Rastrick, from Southampton, broke his pelvis, femur, ankle and ribs in the nose-dive crash on Cross Fell, Cumbria, on 7 August.

Within days of waking up from an induced coma, he has reportedly made plans for his next flight.

An Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) probe into the cause of the crash is ongoing.

Mr Rastrick took off from Edensoaring gliding club, near Skirwith, but crashed at the top on the mountain.

The teenager was rescued by the Great North Air Ambulance, who flew him to a hospital in Newcastle, then to Southampton.

Image source, Great North Air Ambulance
Image caption,

The glider is believed to have crashed nose-first on the highest mountain in the Pennines

Mr Rastrick had his sedation reduced a week following the incident, and woke up on 14 August.

His mother said it was "an unimaginable" incident for her son, who wants to join the RAF.

"Some people might think we should stop him from doing it again - but I'm not going to stop him."

The AAIB sent a team to the scene near Kirkland to investigate.

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