A paraglider pilot crashed and died during a mid-morning accident in San Jacinto, say Riverside County Fire Department officials.

The crash was reported at 10:15 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28, at Soboba Flight Park, 255 Soboba Road, in a rural area near San Jacinto River Park.

Fire officials released no details of the accident. But flight instructor Richard Kennedy said in a video interview with Newspro News that 30-year-old pilot Dave Pearson of Los Angeles was killed making a test flight.

“Dave was a very experienced pilot,” Kennedy recalled hours after the crash. “He was testing out a new prototype wing.

“He attempted to do so some barrel rolls, and he got into a locked-in spiral, and he spiraled into the ground.”

Kennedy emphasized that the weather and flight conditions were ideal.

“There was a very light wind. There was no turbulence. There was nothing wrong with the air,” he recalled.

Pearson had flown for three or four years at Soboba, making 10 to 20 flights on most weekends, his friend estimated.

“He was a very advanced pilot, and he got into a really bad situation, and he couldn’t get out of it,” Kennedy said. “At least he died doing something that he loved.”