Mike Newman was piloting a glider at the Shoreham Airshow last weekend when the unthinkable happened: he crashed the glider in front of his audience while in the circuit to land.

Shoreham air show crash pilot escapes as stunt glider smashes into runway | Mail Online

This is the moment when a stunt glider slammed into a runway in front of 15,000 horrified fans at an airshow. Amazingly pilot Mike Newman, 35, crawled out of the wreckage of the high performance Swift S-1 aircraft after the cockpit broke up on impact. The former racing driver suffered three broken vertebrae in the accident, but doctors expect him to make a full recovery.

Amateur photographer Rob Yuill released this photo as a part of a full set of unbelievable photographs which have been released to various UK newspapers.

Swiftteam Airshows have released a statement:

Swift Aerobatic Display Team : Team News

Mike’s crash at Shoreham was probably one of the best recorded glider accidents in history as it was in front of not only the crowd, but the Airshow Press Tent and the flight was at the start of the airshow on Sunday. Many of the country’s best aviation photographers had their lenses directed towards the glider. High definition video and high resolution photographs have already proved valuable to the AAIB in understanding some of the circumstances leading up to the crash. We are hoping that further analysis will benefit all pilots in the future to better understand many of the factors that lead to an accident so they can be avoided.

Here’s the YouTube video referenced in that article:

In response to a commenter on the Scotsman asking how “walk away from the wreckage with minor injuries” can turn out to mean “crawl out of the wreckage with his back broken in three places”, a reader posted:

In skydiver talk, “he’s OK” means he’s not dead. Same idea here.

Absolutely true – well done Mr. Newman and a speedy recovery!