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 12 out of 324

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 24.02.2024	Pilot Male Rating: Unknown	Location Shining Tor, Peak District, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Unknown Single surface paraglider	Summary A pilot attempting to ridge soar in light wind initiating a spin a from around eight meters above the ground, resulting in suspected minor injuries upon impact.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries
Date 24.02.2024	Pilot Rating: P Flying Experience: 39 years 2200 hours (20 hours) 900 flights (17 flights)	Location Sutton Meadows, Ely, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Wills Wing Falcon 3 Launch Type: Aero Tow	Summary Whilst on landing approach the student made a control input turning the dual hang glider off course. The Instructor recovered the turn and aligned the glider with the runway but did not have time to round out before touchdown, resulting in a fast landing. An inspection revealed the landing had caused a bow in an upright.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt Passenger: Unhurt
Date 24.02.2024	Pilot Male Age: 63 Rating: P Flying Experience: 26 years 600 hours (20 hours) 1200 flights (40 flights)	Location Stanage Edge, Derbyshire, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Mac Para Eden 7 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was making a soaring flight and opted to approach the hang glider take off, flying with a downwind component and no longer in ridge lift. The pilot was not able to turn into wind in time, and collided with a rock upon touchdown, causing injury.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Feet, Legs
Date 23.02.2024	Pilot Male Age: 63 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 9 years 500 hours (36 hours) 1122 flights (76 flights)	Location Nid d'Aigle Dunes, Tamellalt, Mirleft, Morocco Wind Strength: 40-45 km/h Conditions:, Leeside	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Skywalk Mint Launch Type: Foot	Summary Following a morning flight in soaring conditions on the site, the pilot returned to fly after lunch. They did not notice that the wind speed had increased. Despite using the speed bar, pilot was blown back over the dune into leeside rotor. They experienced a wing collapse in the turbulent air and hit the ground sustaining injury.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Lumbar Spine
Date 18.02.2024	Pilot Male Age: 24 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 11 years (1 flight)	Location Haig Pit, Whitehaven, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance IOTA Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot encountered sinking air whilst attempting to ridge soar and decided to fly to the take-off area. They lost altitude and prepared for a downwind side slope landing, resulting in a foot fracture on impact. Reflecting on the experience, the pilot highlighted that there had been a long period when they had not flown, and they chose to fly in lightweight trainers rather than their normal flying boots.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs
Date 12.02.2024	Pilot Male Age: 59 Rating: P Flying Experience: 26 years 850 hours (75 hours) 500 flights (30 flights)	Location Dunstable, Dunstable, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions: Calm, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Skywalk Chili 3 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot launched in strong conditions. The wind speed increased during the flight and the pilot was blown back into an area of rotor despite attempting to descend with big ears and full speed bar applied. The pilot landed in a tree.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 11.02.2024	Pilot Male Age: 44 Rating: Unqualified Flying Experience: 3 years 26 hours (9 hours) 94 flights (26 flights)	Location Nid d'Agile, Morocco Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: BGD Echo Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot over-corrected a turn on top landing approach and landed heavily on one leg, sustaining minor injuries.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs
Date 10.02.2024	Pilot Male Age: 71 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 33 years 1800 hours (25 hours) (15 flights)	Location Barton on Sea, Hampshire, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Mantra 7 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was soaring the sea front in light conditions at high tide. As the lift was diminishing they prepared for a bottom landing. They landed on a narrow strip of land available just above the beach to avoid the risk of the wing entering the sea. After landing, the pilot received assistance from the Coastguard to reach the cliff top.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 01.02.2024	Pilot Male Age: 54 Rating: P Flying Experience: 18 years 900 hours (42 hours) 1000 flights (12 flights)	Location Los Tanques, Roldanillo, Colombia Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Very Strong, Strong Turbulence, Thundery	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Gin Explorer 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary During a competition flight the pilot encountered severe turbulence leading to an asymmetric collapse and subsequent spin. The pilot deployed their emergency parachute and landed in trees.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 01.02.2024	Pilot Male Age: 64 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 18 years 1000 hours (50 hours) (15 flights)	Location Roldanillo, Roldanillo, Colombia Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Very Strong, Strong Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Photon Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot sustained minor injuries when deploying their emergency parachute as the bridle went under their arm. Upon landing they slid down a slope, sustaining further minor injuries.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries

Last updated: 5 January 2025

Displaying page 12 out of 324

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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.

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