Paraglider

British Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association

British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association

Incident Reports - Informal Investigations

Incident reports received by the BHPA are available in summary form on this page. If you're looking for reports of formal investigations undertaken in the case of a serious incident, please visit our Incident Reports (formal investigations) page.

Incident reports are available in summary form for the following wing types:

Incident reports for flexwing hang glider wings are displayed below in summary form.

The BHPA incident reports database is fully searchable. To refine your search you can specify a particular wing type and select "or" or "and". For example, if you want to search for paraglider incidents at Hay Bluff, for best search results select paraglider from the drop down list and the "and" option.

or and

If available, total hours flown and hours flown in the previous six months are included below, with the latter displayed in brackets.

There are 403 entries for flexwing hang glider wings

Displaying page 7 out of 41

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Date Pilot Location Wing Type Summary Injury
11.03.2018 Male

Age:
55

Rating:
CP

Flying Experience:
6 years

Parlick Pike (East),
UK

Wind Strength:
25-30 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Light Turbulence
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Avian
Rio

Launch Type:
Foot
Pilot landed short in field adjacent to landing field but was also slightly crosswind. Left hand side of control frame struck the ground first causing the pilot to swing through.

Seriously Injured,
Hands, Arms, Shoulder

11.03.2018 Male

Age:
54

Rating:
CP

Flying Experience:
39 years
150 hours
(12 hours)

Parlick East, Lancashire,
UK

Wind Strength:
20-25 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Light Turbulence
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Avian
Rio 2

Launch Type:
Foot
Pilot misjudged approach and was short of official landing field. In attempting to reach an adjacent field the pilot accidentally stalled the glider due to the wind gradient.

Seriously Injured,
Hands, Arms, Shoulder

03.12.2017 Male

Age:
20

Rating:
CP

Flying Experience:
6 years
3 hours
(3 hours)

Devil's Dyke,
UK

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Light Turbulence,
Flight In Clouds, Fog
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Airwave
Caypso

Launch Type:
Foot
Hang glider pilot had mid-air collision with paraglider pilot while ridge soaring in busy conditions.

Unhurt
08.10.2017 Male

Age:
55

Rating:
AP

Flying Experience:
40 years
915 hours
(5 hours)

Croft farm,
UK

Wind Strength:
0-5 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Moyes
LS3

Launch Type:
Aero Tow
Pilot got out of shape on the tow and released from the tow line at about 100 ft agl. Attempted to return to the airstrip but had insufficient height to complete the turn and impacted the ground.

Minor Injuries
03.10.2017 Male

Age:
59

Rating:
AP

Flying Experience:
42 years
3000 hours
(75 hours)

St Agnes,
UK

Wind Strength:
35-40 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Moderate Turbulence
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Airbourne
Fun

Launch Type:
Foot
On landing glider entered dead air and despite having excess airspeed in preparation for expected wind shear resulted in wheeled landing. passenger now behind pilot in normal standup landing position knocked pilot on back of helmet with his own helmet on landing resulting in pilot knocking nose on basebar.

Pilot:
Minor Injuries
Head Injuries

Passenger:
Unhurt
18.09.2017 Male

Age:
54



Devil's Dyke,
UK

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Light Turbulence
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Wills Wing
Falcon

Launch Type:
Foot
Student turned 270 degrees on final approach instead of 180 and landed in trees.

Unhurt
13.08.2017 Male

Age:
44

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
24 years
92 hours
(2 hours)

Mendlesham,
UK

Wind Strength:
5-10 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate,
Not Turbulent
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Wills Wing
U2

Launch Type:
Winch/vehicle Tow
Pilot was distracted and allowed nose of glider to drift upwards during winch launch. The glider went up at a high angle and the winch operator guillotined the line. The pilot pulled the bar in but caught an upright on the ground before fully in control, landing heavily.

Minor Injuries
09.07.2017 Male

Rating:
EP day 3



Devils Dyke back field,
UK

Wind Strength:
5-10 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Airbourne
Fun
Student encountered buoyant air while on short tethered flight. Student climbed uprights instead of pulling in and landed heavily.

Seriously Injured,
Hands, Arms, Shoulder

24.05.2017 Male

Age:
51

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
44 years
655 hours
(42 hours)

Woldingham,
UK

Wind Strength:
0-5 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Light Turbulence
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Wills wing
Eagle

Launch Type:
Powered

Engine:
Wasp,
Wasp
Pilot stalled on take-off.

Pilot:
Seriously Injured
Hands, Arms, Shoulder

Passenger:
Unhurt
10.04.2017 Male

Age:
45

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
17 years
200 hours
(15 hours)

Westbury White Horse,
UK

Wind Strength:
25-30 km/h

Conditions:,
Light Turbulence
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Moyes
RX3.5

Launch Type:
Foot
Pilot had not attached nose cone properly causing the glider to become unstable during high speed glide. Glider descended rapidly and impacted heavily bending both uprights.

Unhurt
Go to: Incident Reports (formal investigations)
Go to: Annual Incident Analysis Reports
Last updated: 7 December 2023

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