AOPA Official Killed In Mid-Air

Chris O'Callaghan, 51, vice president of eMedia for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, was killed in a mid-air collision at a soaring competition in Uvalde, Texas last month.

A resident of New Market, Md., O'Callaghan died when the sailplane he was piloting collided with another glider as both were returning to Uvalde' Garner Field Airport. The pilot of the second sailplane, identified as Ralph Bergh, landed without safely in a field near Batesville after sustaining damage to part of a wing, authorities said.

According to contest manager Kerry Huffstutler, both pilots were in the process of completing the day's set task and returning to the airport when their sailplanes impacted in mid-air.

"Ralph was heading in the opposite direction and saw three sailplanes," Huffstutler said. "He swerved and missed one and then hit the other."

A voice on the radio issue a "mayday" but they did not know who it was, she said. "It was very frightening."

The crash site is 15 miles south of Garner Field, which was hosting this year's 15-meter National Soaring Competition. The manager of the Leona River Ranch, Nyland Falkenberg, said the pilot was dead when he and others reached the scene of the crash.

Falkenberg said that U.S. Border Patrol agents found pieces of the sailplane that had been shed at the time of the mid-air collision scattered around the ranch. Huffstutler said the victim has been flying in soaring competitions in Uvalde since the first regional meet was held in 1985.

AOPA said O'Callaghan was affectionately known as "OC" (he raced as call sign Oscar Charlie and included the initials in the registration number on his glider) He was an active member of the Mid-Atlantic Soaring Society for many years and flew gliders from the club's bases in Frederick, Md., and Fairfield, Pa., beginning in his late teens.

He participated in national and international competitions and logged more than 6,000 hours aloft in more than 30 kinds of sailplanes, AOPA said.

Huffstutler said O'Callaghan has been flying in soaring competitions in Uvalde since the first regional meet was held in 1985. Pilots took a day off and were scheduled to begin flying again the following day in the contest that ended on Aug. 12.

The crash is the third fatality since Uvalde began hosting soaring competitions more than 25 years ago. Finnish pilot Anssi Passila was killed during the World Soaring Championships in 1991 and another pilot, Pete Burdulis, who was working as part of a crew during a national contest in 2001, died while flying on a day off from the sanctioned event.