British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association

Incident Reports (Informal)

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:

• All Wing Types
• Paraglider
• Flexwing Hang Glider
• Rigid Hang Glider
• Speedrider
• Speedflyer/Miniwing
• Powered PG
• Powered HG
• Other

Incident reports for all wing types 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.

If you want to search by incident date, please enter the day, month and year numerically as dd-mm-yyyy (eg. 03-12-2019).

All Wing Types Paraglider Flexwing Hang Glider Rigid Hang Glider Speedrider Speedflyer/Miniwing Powered PG Powered HG Other

or and

If known, total hours and total flights flown are displayed below together with hours and flights flown in the past six months, the latter being displayed in brackets.

There are 3239 entries for all wing types

Displaying page 1 out of 324

[ Next ] - [ Bottom ]

Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 29.12.2024	Pilot Male Age: 43 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 2 years 30 hours (15 hours) 55 flights (38 flights)	Location Dunstable Downs, Dunstable, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Buzz Z 7 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was soaring in increasing wind strength and was blown back. They attempted to activate the accelerator system however the Brummel hook was detached on one side rendering the speed bar inoperative. They opted to turn downwind and descended rapidly to land in some brambles in a small public park.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 14.12.2024	Pilot Male Rating: Unknown	Location Westbury White Horse, Westbury, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions:, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Unknown paraglider Unknown Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was seen attempting to launch their paraglider during a gust and was dragged over the launch area into a wooden bench. They were assisted by other pilots. If any injuries, they are unknown. No further information available.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 14.12.2024	Pilot Male Age: 65 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 40 years	Location North Luffenham airfield, Rutland, UK	Wing Type Other Wing: Companion SQR 120	Summary During an emergency parachute repack event the deployment was tested and failed as the Companion inner container deployment bag (containing the packed EP) could not be extracted from the harness (handle strop too short). The inner container supplied with the Gin Genie Lite 3 harness was substituted, and the extraction of the EP was tested as satisfactory.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 04.12.2024	Pilot Male Age: 66 Rating: P Flying Experience: 50 years 500 hours (13 hours) 1000 flights (9 flights)	Location Easterton, Elgin, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Calm, Strong Turbulence, Leeside	Wing Type Powered HG Wing: Grif 3DC Launch Type: Powered Engine: Grif, Snake	Summary The pilot attempted to land their wheeled undercarriage powered HG ("Sub 70") in conditions they described as cross wind and turbulent. The landing was fast with some lateral drift. The nose wheel sheared off resulting in rapid deceleration as the undercarriage tube (trike keel) dug into soft ground.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 14.11.2024	Pilot Male Age: 67 Rating: AP	Location Bo Peep, Sussex, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions:, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance Sigma 10 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot experienced an asymmetric collapse in turbulent air during a ridge soaring flight. They were unable to deploy their emergency parachute in time and impacted the ground, sustaining injury.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 24.10.2024	Pilot Age: 51 Rating: P Flying Experience: 12 years 800 hours (45 hours)	Location Bir Billing, Himachal Pradesh, India Conditions: Strong	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Rush 6 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was attempting to top land in thermic conditions and inadvertently ended up behind the front lip of the ridge, in rotor. The paraglider experienced an asymmetric collapse on approach to land. The pilot struck the ground hard and sustained injury.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Thoracic Spine
Date 19.10.2024	Pilot Male Rating: P	Location Rybury, Alton Barnes, UK Wind Strength: 30-35 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: U-Turn Blackout Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was seen to initiate an acro manoeuvre at ridge height and was unable to recover to normal flight before impacting the hillside.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries
Date 18.10.2024	Pilot Male Age: 64 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 7 years 243 hours (57 hours) 205 flights (49 flights)	Location Poniente North, Algodonales, Spain Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Skywalk Chili 5 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The paraglider entered a spin and the pilot applied control inputs to regain normal flight. The wing began to spiral dive. The pilot was not able to effect a recovery, or deploy their emergency parachute, before impact.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Feet, Legs
Date 17.10.2024	Pilot Male Age: 73 Rating: P Flying Experience: 24 years 168 hours (19 hours) 433 flights (21 flights)	Location The Terrace, Chale, Isle of Wight, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions: Calm, Very Strong Turbulence, Leeside	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance Iota 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was attempting to fly back to the take-off area, and flew into rotor. Whilst attempting to fly out of the rotor area, they induced a stall near to the ground and landed heavily.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Lumbar Spine
Date 17.10.2024	Pilot Male Age: 57 Rating: P Flying Experience: 21 years 450 hours (40 hours) 750 flights (25 flights)	Location Oludeniz, Oludeniz, Turkey Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Skywalk Chilli 5 Launch Type: Foot	Summary An in-flight video shows the pilot's emergency parachute handle had become detached from its normal mounting position on their SupAir Delight 4 harness during an SIV manoeuvre (the pilot stated they had checked the retaining pins were properly engaged as part of their pre-flight check). Upon landing touchdown, the emergency parachute fell out of the harness's parachute container.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt

Last updated: 5 January 2025

Displaying page 1 out of 324

[ Next ] - [ Bottom ]

A number of incident analysis reports are also available in the safety section of our website. These are compiled from the individual incident reports submitted during the course of each year.

• Go to: Safety
• Go to: Pilot Development
• Go to: Pilot Rating Scheme
• Go to: BHPA Courses
• Go to: Incident Reports (Informal)
• Go to: Incident Reports (Formal)
• Go to: Safety Notices
• Go to: CANP (Civil Aircraft Notification Procedure)
• Go to: NOTAMs (Notices to Aviation)
• Go to: Instructor & Coach Newsletters
• Go to: BHPA Documents
• Go to: BHPA Forms
• Go to: BHPA Fees