Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Hang gliding accident near Jean kills instructor, 11-year-old boy

Glider Crash Death near Jean

L.E. Baskow

A police officer blocks off the access road to a glider crash with death of an 11-year-old boy several miles north of Jean about the dry-lake bed on Friday, March, 27, 2015.

Updated Saturday, March 28, 2015 | 12:54 p.m.

Glider Crash Death near Jean

Family members and supporters gather with Clark County rescue personnel along S. Las Vegas Blvd. and Sloan Road following a glider crash with the death of an 11-year-old boy south of there on Friday, March, 27, 2015. Launch slideshow »

An 11-year-old boy and a man are dead after a hang gliding accident on a dry lake bed near Jean.

The man, an experienced hang gliding instructor, was in the air with the boy when the hang glider crashed, Metro Police said.

Police received a report about 2:50 p.m. of the accident on the Jean dry lake bed east of State Route 604 (Las Vegas Boulevard South), Metro Police said. The hang glider was tethered to a tow vehicle when it fell, for unknown reasons, from the sky, crashing to the ground.

The man was confirmed dead on scene, police said.

Part of the hang gliding team tried to transport the boy into Las Vegas to seek medical attention when they saw a Highway Patrol trooper near Sloan Road and Las Vegas Boulevard South, NHP Trooper Loy Hixson said.

The trooper tried to provide medical attention, but medical personnel who arrived on scene pronounced the boy dead, he said.

The Federal Aviation Administration has been notified, police said, and the accident remains under investigation.

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