A glider crashed Saturday afternoon in Mayville. P-J photo by Timothy Frudd

MAYVILLE — A two-person glider crashed in the bushes and trees across from Chautauqua Lake Central School around 1:20 p.m. on Saturday.

According to the pilots, the glider which was launched from Dart Airport in Hartfield, had lost altitude and was attempting to make an emergency landing.

Eyewitnesses said they watched the whole event happen and were able to immediately help the two men out of the glider. The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office later identified the pilot as Galo A Grijalva, 56, of Lakewood and Douglas R Sillart, 60, of Derby.

“We were just coming this way past the school, and right before Harrington’s we saw the plane coming low,” Dustin Lang, an eyewitness said. “They came almost over this house and turned around. I thought they were going to try landing on the road, I don’t know if they went that way because they saw us and didn’t want to hit the truck, but they just went off into the weeds.”

Lang said by the time he reached the plane, the first of the two men had already emerged from the wreckage.

A glider crashed Saturday afternoon in Mayville. P-J photo by Timothy Frudd

“By the time I got over there, the first guy was already out of the plane,” he said.

The glider’s sudden crash was also witnessed by a teacher from Chautauqua Lake Central School.

“I was heading to my school to go to my classroom, when I saw a glider coming across, and all of a sudden the glider started going down. It crashed into a bushy small tree area and split apart.” the teacher said. “It was the most frightening thing I had ever seen.”

Sheriff James Quattrone said officials were awaiting to hear from the FAA.