Inquest Into Warrington Hang-glider Death

4 February 2013, 11:13 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

An inquest has heard a Warrington teenager killed in a hang-gliding crash may have lost control because she was worried about repeating what she thought was an earlier mistake

Lois Preston, from Great Sankey, was making a solo flight at Darley Moor Airfield in Derbyshire when the hang glider crashed to the ground in October 2011.

She was taken to hospital in Nottingham but died from her injuries.

An inquest into her death at Derby Coroner's Court heard how the high school student had caught the ``flying bug'' during holidays with her parents Mark and Susan, who were not present at the inquest.

She then undertook a number of training courses and tandem flights and became a proficient paraglider pilot before turning her attention to hang-gliding.

On October 28, 2011, Lois experienced a small amount of movement during her first solo flight at Darley Moor, which she corrected by levelling the glider and managed to complete the flight land successfully.

Her instructor, Judith Leden, was with her at the time and told the inquest, which was in front of a jury: "It was absolutely flawless."

Mrs Leden said that following that flight, Lois said she thought she had over-corrected and told her: "I know what I did wrong and it won't happen again."

The inquest heard it may have been this mindset which led to her being unable to rectify and recover from rolling to the left on her second flight.

The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.