Leicestershire, England: The lucky pilot jumped from his aircraft and parachuted to safety after the collision between two gliders during a competition.
Local resident Martin Boss, who took the amazing photos from his garden, was shocked to see the wing break away from the glider and the aircraft fall to the ground.
The pilot, aged about 50, remarkably suffered just minor injuries and was taken to hospital.
His glider crashed upside down in a field near Little Paxton in Cambridgeshire and the broken wing landed nearby.
The pilot of the second glider was able to land safely on an airfield near Bedford. The accident in now being investigated by the British Gliding Association (BGA).
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The pilots were taking part in the week-long Hus Bos Challenge Cup, which had 35 contestants, and each glider was believed to have been flying at around 50mph.
They were flying from the Gliding Centre at Husbands Bosworth in Leicestershire.
Mr Boss, an electronics engineer, had been in his garden trying to get photos of birds when he saw the gliders about half a mile away.
The 45-year-old, who used a 400mm lens to capture the moment, said it was a shock to see the two gliders collide and one start to break up.
He said: "There were about half a dozen to eight gliders and I took some pictures of them. Then two of them touched each other, one of the wings came off, and it went straight down."
Pete Stratten, chief executive of the BGA, said: "This type of accident happens very rarely, it is a relatively safe sport but everybody does accept there is a greater risk than climbing on a commercial aircraft."
He said each glider would have been flying around 50mph and the force of the crash was enough to separate the wing from the glider.
He added: "The pilot jumped out effectively and the other pilot landed immediately.
