UPPER LAKE – An Upper Lake man was the victim of a hang glider crash north of Upper Lake last Saturday.

William Vogel, 67, was the victim of the crash, which occurred about six miles north of Upper Lake, according to a Tuesday report from Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

At about 1:20 p.m. Sept. 19 the Northshore Fire Protection District and a Cal Star air ambulance were dispatched to a reported hang glider accident, Bauman said.

When rescue personnel arrived in the area of a creek bed off of Elk Mountain Road, they found Vogel lying unresponsive near his hang glider on the bank of the creek bed, Bauman said.

Several witnesses to the accident had already tried to revive Vogel with no success and when rescue personnel determined Vogel to be deceased, a deputy coroner was dispatched to investigate his cause of death, according to Bauman.

A friend of Vogel’s, Vincent Endter of San Jose, was hang gliding with Vogel and was still in the air as he watched Vogel descend for a landing, Bauman said.

Bauman said Endter told the deputy coroner he saw Vogel approaching some power lines as he came in for a landing and as Vogel banked left to avoid the lines, his left wing tip clipped a small tree and he crashed into the bank of the creek bed.

Still in the air, Endter called to another man who was tending to his property on the ground to go help Vogel and then Endter called 911 from the air before descending himself to land and assist, Bauman said.

Northshore Fire officials initially believed that Vogel had died from cardiac arrest while in the air, as Lake County News reported on Tuesday.

However, Bauman said an autopsy performed on Tuesday at Jones Mortuary in Lakeport concluded that Vogel's cause of death was internal bleeding due to injuries he sustained upon impact with the creek bed bank.

Bauman said Vogel and Endter were both reported to be very experienced hang gliders and Endter told the deputy coroner Vogel’s hang glider had no apparent mechanical problems.

Endter estimated Vogel’s air speed to be 35 to 40 miles per hour when he impacted the creek bed bank, Bauman said.