AN experienced glider pilot renowned for filming his exploits died in a crash dive in turbulent weather conditions, an inquest was told.

YouTube film maker Matt Wright made a pilot error when he banked to the left and went into a spin and crashed into the moorland from around 200 feet up at Dartmoor Gliding Society at Brentor in December 2016.

The inquest jury recorded a conclusion of accidental death.

The jury heard he was an experienced commercial pilot with thousands of hours of flying experience.

The hearing at Exeter’s County Hall was told the 47-year-old was ‘an avid glider pilot’ and an experienced glider pilot instructor who was seeking an ‘epic wave’.

His friend and fellow glider pilot Matthew Williamson told the inquest that the conditions that day were challenging which meant they could lift up to 20,000 feet over Dartmoor ‘which does not happen very often’.

Mr Williamson said there was ‘very severe turbulence near to the ground’ which they expected and had experienced many times before.

The inquest heard that Matt took off but suffered a cable break from the winch that propelled his glider and within less than a minute he crashed into the moorland and his aircraft disintegrated.

Witness John Pursey said his glider rose to around 200 feet but said: ‘He levelled off and began to turn to the left which was the wrong thing to do.

‘It was too slow to manoeuvre and he descended rapidly and was at the mercy of the wind and he crashed into moorland.’

He said Matt - who had fixed two cameras to his glider to film his flight - was a ‘bit of a legend’ because of his YouTube films of his flying exploits.

Mr Williamson said his close friend banked to the left but he went into a spin and ‘slammed into the ground’.

Both men gave CPR to their friend but he did not survive the crash.

Mr Williamson said: ‘We were looking for challenging flying. Matt went to the Alps for a month because they are the most challenging and most rewarding views, scenery and location.’

He said they were both ‘open eyed’ to the conditions and Matthew was ‘more experienced than anyone and knew flying in those conditions’ adding: ‘What we were doing was not exceptional.’

Matthew took his own glider to the Brentor site and assembled it at the club but weather conditions were not suitable to fly in the morning. But in the afternoon the conditions had improved and he took off on his fateful flight.

The hearing was told by winchman Peter Howarth that it was ‘the pilot’s decision to make the launch’.

The coroner said a weak link parted in the turbulent conditions and Matt tried to fly a circuit but lost control and crashed.

Mr Spinney said: ‘He lost control of the glider and it hit the ground causing fatal injuries.’

His mother Elizabeth said her Rhodesian born son never drank, smoked and was a vegetarian.

She said the father of two, from Washfield, Devon, took up gliding as a hobby which he ‘greatly enjoyed and was passionate about’.

He flew his glider in the Alps and in around the UK and was a member of the Devon and Somerset Gliding Club.

A post mortem said the cause of death was multiple injuries. Air accident investigators said Matt Wright made an error when he died.

They said he was a very experienced pilot of commercial airliners and gliders with 1,500 hours of flying and 1,000 launches.

The AAIB team found no defects on his aircraft and said he could have landed on the airfield rather than try to make a circuit before landing.

They concluded: ‘He didn’t stick to the advice to pitch down.’

They said he made ‘an ill-judged manoeuvre” at 280 feet which led to his aircraft going into a spin in the turbulent winds and crashing.

The jury ruled the commercial pilot died from multiple injuries after the ‘weather conditions caused the glider to lose altitude and crash’.

The jury added that a cable winch safety mechanism detached at low height while he attempted to return the aircraft to the ground for a landing.

Two months before his death he compiled a montage of some of his flights in a bid to encourage people to take up gliding.

One quote was from Abraham Lincoln which said: ‘It’s not the years of your life that count, it’s the life in your years.’

He had 14,000 subscribers to his YouTube movies and one called The Belly of the Beast had 636,000 views.