AN investigation is to be launched into a glider crash in North Yorkshire.

The pilot was taken to hospital with facial and arm lacerations following the crash, which happened yesterday afternoon at Burn Gliding Club at Burn, near Selby.

But a club spokesman said today he believed it was fortunate that his injuries were not life threatening.

He said: "The pilot was one of our members and has been kept overnight in hospital for observation but we understand his injuries, thankfully, are not life threatening.

"There will be a formal investigation to determine the cause of the accident, so we will have to wait until that is finalised beforre we are able to comment further."

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance and a road ambulance were called after the crash, which happened at just after 3pm yesterday on land by Common Lane, just off the A19 at Burn, near Selby.

The helicopter landed in a field close by, ready to carry the injured pilot to hospital if needed, said local resident Bill Hearld, who is a former deputy editor of The Press.

He said one witness, who did not wish to be named, said the glider hit a telegraph pole, ripped off its wing and spun across the country road a few hundred metres from the runway of Burn airfield.

North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service said crews from Selby, Tadcaster and Snaith responded to reports of a glider crashing near the airfield, which is a former wartime airfield.

"The crews extricated the male from the glider using cutting equipment before paramedics took him to hospital," it added.

The Yorkshire Ambulance Service said the air ambulance and a road ambulance attended the crash and a male casualty was taken by the road ambulance to York Hospital, suffering from a 'range of facial and arm lacerations.'