A DAD-OF-TWO spiralled to his death after losing control of his paraglider in a catastrophic accident near Mere, an inquest heard.

David Percivall, 55, was flying at the popular paragliding spot of Spencer’s Bowl on White Sheet Hill on May 22.

But as he took off the wind changed direction, causing him to spin and crash into the ground.

Fellow gliders ran to David’s aid and emergency services were called but he was pronounced dead at the scene at 7.04pm.

David’s daughter Terri Breakwell, 29, and son Steven, 27, said: “He was the best dad we could wish for and the best grandad to his three grandchildren.

“He loved his sports, especially paragliding. His motto was to live each day as it comes, each day is an adventure.

“He has left a huge hole in all of our lives.”

The family thanked everyone who supported them following the accident.

Steven added: “It’s been really hard since that day. He was still the man of the house.”

The former Royal Air Force serviceman had been a member of the Avon Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club for eight years.

An inquest into his death at Salisbury Coroner’s Court on Friday heard that on the day of his death David had arrived at White Sheet Hill at around 5pm but due to the forecasted wind directions he decided to wait until 7pm to take to the skies.

In a statement, witness and fellow paraglider Melvin Rawlins said that the pair had a chat about how David was getting on with his Advance Sigma 9 paraglider before David carried out two failed attempts to take off.

After moving about three meters he took off but failed to gain any height and “as he flew away from the hill lost more height” and suffered a wing collapse.

The experienced flyer then went into a spiral which was “unrecoverable” and hit the ground.

In an accident investigation report, senior technical officer David Thompson said David had taken off into “turbulent air” which caused an “uncontrollable spiral loss of control”.

A post mortem carried out by Dr Matthew Flynn determined that David, of Hargreaves Road, Trowbridge, died of multiple traumatic injuries.

Senior coroner David Ridley concluded that David’s death was accidental, adding: “David took off in changing wind directions which resulted in an increase of air turbulence that ultimately resulted in a catastrophic asymmetric wing collapse that sent his paraglider into an irrecoverable spin.”