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Man killed in Milpitas hang gliding crash
They crashed on the hillsides of the Ed Levin County Park in Milpitas
By Maggie Angst | mangst@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: May 30, 2022 at 3:46 p.m. | UPDATED: May 31, 2022 at 9:29 a.m.
A Memorial Day activity of hang gliding turned deadly when an aircraft crashed at a Milpitas park, killing a man and critically injuring a woman, according to authorities.
A hang gliding crash was reported at about noon on the hillsides of the Ed Levin County Park in Milpitas, said Deputy Russell Davis of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office.
The man, who was riding on the hang glider, was pronounced dead at the scene while the woman was transported to a local hospital with critical injuries, according to authorities.
Circumstances surrounding the crash, including whether the man and woman were riding together or on separate hang gliders, was not immediately clear Monday afternoon.
The man’s identity has not yet been released by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office.
Milpitas’ Ed Levin Park was is considered a premier training site in Northern California for both paragliding and hang gliding. To fly at the park, you must be a member of the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association or the Wings of Rogallo Northern California Hang Gliding Association, according to the Wings of Rogallo website.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.Author
Maggie Angst | San Jose reporter
Maggie Angst is the San Jose City Hall reporter for The Mercury News. She previously covered local government on the Peninsula. Maggie grew up in the Chicago area and graduated from the University of Missouri with a multimedia journalism degree. Before joining the Merc, she was a fellow at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and was an education and general assignment reporter for the Island Packet in Hilton Head, S.C., where she won several state reporting awards.
mangst@bayareanewsgroup.com
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The Mercury News
Man killed in hang gliding crash in Milpitas is identified
The man was hang gliding with a woman, who was injured in the collision, police said
By Summer Lin | slin@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: June 3, 2022 at 11:55 a.m. | UPDATED: June 3, 2022 at 12:57 p.m.
Authorities have identified the man killed in a hang gliding crash on Memorial Day at a Milpitas park.
Fremont resident David Jacob, 58, was riding tandem with a woman when their craft went down about noon on the hillsides of Ed Levin County Park in Milpitas. The woman was airlifted to a local medical facility in critical condition, authorities said. An update on her condition was not available Friday.
Jacob was pronounced dead at the scene. The death was ruled as accidental and caused by blunt force injury.
The investigation into the crash is ongoing, according to Deputy Russell Davis of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. Very high winds could have possibly contributed to the collision. The sheriff’s office is coordinating with the FAA on the investigation.Author
Summer Lin | Breaking News Reporter
Summer Lin covers breaking news and general assignment for The Mercury News. She previously covered D.C. politics and California lawsuits for McClatchy's publications, including the Sacramento Bee, as a national real-time reporter. She is a graduate of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and worked on ProPublica’s Electionland project during the 2016 presidential election.
slin@bayareanewsgroup.com
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https://www.ktvu.com/news/coroner-ids-h ... pitas-park
KTVU FOX 2
Coroner ID's hang glider who died in Milpitas park
By KTVU staff | Published June 3, 2022 6:21AM | Milpitas | KTVU FOX 2
MILPITAS, Calif. - The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner identified the man who died in a hang gliding accident as 58-year-old David Jacob of Fremont.
Jacob died May 30 of blunt force injuries while tandem hang-gliding at Monument Peak in Milpitas' Ed R. Levin County Park.
Investigation into hang-gliding death examines whether man obeyed county rules
The pair took off from the 1750 launch site, the highest launch point at the park, the fire department said, and the glider crashed into a hillside.
Witnesses said he was an experienced pilot.
A woman he was with was injured, but her name and condition have not been publicly disclosed.
The park is well-known for hang gliding, and paragliding and people have to meet certain requirements set by the county before they can embark.
Milpitas fire officials say it was a challenge reaching the downed gliders because the terrain is difficult to navigate. Monument Peak is 2,500 feet high.
The county’s Parks Department requires a liability waiver form to be filled out before hang-gliders launch at Ed R. Levin Park.
