Dansville, N.Y. – A Rochester man was killed after his glider crashed in a field near the Dansville Airport Saturday afternoon.
That man has been identified as 66-year-old James Rizzo, an active member of the Fingerlakes Soaring Club based out of the Dansville Airport.
Rizzo's glider plane went down around 3:30 Saturday afternoon in the area of Zerfass and Meter Roads.
The Fingerlakes Soaring Club was known to fly over this area often, it was a popular gliding area.
The soaring club was hosting a contest Saturday out of the airport but members from the club
tells 13 wham that Rizzo was not a part of that competition.
Rizzo was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Police are trying to figure out the cause of the crash.
"We're trying to determine that now, we'll work with the medical examiner to determine if there was a medical cause or in fact there was a flying issue," Livingston County UnderSheriff James Szczesniak said.
The glider Rizzo was flying is also called a sailplane.
They're usually engineless aircrafts that glide through the air.
In this setting, police say there are not radio communications back and forth from a tower.
Police say there are data systems that will be collected and examined by the F.A.A and NTSB, who are also joining the investigation.
