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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.

Zabdi Keen on Arran

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

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).

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 3221 entries for all wing types

Displaying page 15 out of 323

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Date Pilot Location Wing Type Summary Injury
Incident Reports

Date
13.09.2023

Pilot
Male

Age:
53

Rating:
CP

Flying Experience:
5 years


Location
Sopot BG,
Sopot BG,
Bulgaria

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate,
Moderate Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
BGD
Adam

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot had heavy top landing while thermalling in mountains.

Injury
Pilot:
Seriously Injured,

Lumbar Spine

Date
13.09.2023

Pilot
Male

Age:
65

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
20 years

803 hours
(19 hours)

(30 flights)

Location
Sopot,
Bulgaria

Wind Strength:
5-10 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate,
Moderate Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Ozone
Alpina 3

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot misjudged height on approach and encountered stronger than expected head wind. Pilot landed short of intended landing area and stuck an exposed rocky slope.

Injury
Pilot:
Seriously Injured,

Feet, Legs

Date
11.09.2023

Pilot
Male

Age:
68

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
18 years

280 hours
(4 hours)

450 flights
(7 flights)

Location
Sopot,
Sopot,
Bulgaria

Wind Strength:
5-10 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Ozone
Rush 5

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot misjudged height while ridge soaring mountain. Pilot ran out of safe landing options and landed crosswind in bushes.

Injury
Pilot:
Seriously Injured,

Lumbar Spine

Date
10.09.2023

Pilot
Male

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
7 years

552 hours

Location
Newhaven,
Sussex,
UK

Wind Strength:
+45 km/h

Conditions:
Calm

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Ozone
Delta 3

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot was caught out by increasing wind and was blown back on full bar. Pilot landed going backwards on concrete area of beach and was dragged.

Injury
Pilot:
Minor Injuries,

Hands, Arms, Shoulder

Date
08.09.2023

Pilot
Male

Age:
57

Rating:
NPPL microlight. BHPA Club Pilot + hill, power rating, senior coach, microlight permit.

Flying Experience:
36 years

325 hours
(7 hours)

433 flights
(11 flights)

Location
Take off from Rossall Airfield,
Cockerham,
UK

Wind Strength:
0-5 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Other

Wing:
BIERINX J AND DUGOURD M
POU DU CIEL - BIFLY

Launch Type:
Powered

Engine:
Rotax,
447

Summary
Pilot suffered engine out on approach and had to make an emergency landing in alternative field. 30cm grass caught on wheels causing the aircraft to flip upside down.

Injury
Pilot:
Minor Injuries,

Pelvis

Date
06.09.2023

Pilot
Male

Rating:
CP

Flying Experience:
2 years

38 hours
(11 hours)

125 flights
(33 flights)

Location
North Luffenham,
Rutland,
UK

Wind Strength:
0-5 km/h

Conditions:,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Mac Para
Muse5

Launch Type:
Winch/vehicle Tow

Summary
Pilot could not activate Gin tow release on reaching top of tow. Pilot was instructed to lay line down in fig 8 but accidentally went too far and began to down plane. Operator cut line and normal flight was resumed. No fault could be found on the release mechanism.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
06.09.2023

Pilot
Male

Age:
49

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
24 years

1000 hours
(54 hours)

1000 flights
(47 flights)

Location
Ager,
Spain

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:
Very Strong,
Strong Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Ozone
Zeno

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot encountered turbulent air while thermalling and glider suffered full frontal resulting in a cravat spiral. Pilot was unable to regain control sp deployed emergency parachute. Pilot descended into forest canopy then fell through trees to the ground.

Injury
Pilot:
Seriously Injured,

Lumbar Spine

Date
04.09.2023

Pilot
Male

Age:
57

Rating:
AP

Flying Experience:
32 years

4000 hours
(100 hours)

500 flights
(20 flights)

Location
Organya,
Pyrenees,
Spain

Wind Strength:
5-10 km/h

Conditions:
Strong,
Strong Turbulence,
Leeside

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Ozone
Enzo

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot flew over ridge but encountered sink and entered an area of leeside turbulence. Glider collapsed and sustained two large cravats. Glider then flew backwards and pilots vision was obscured by submarine harness tail. Pilot entered trees in a stalled state before being able to deploy parachute.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
04.09.2023

Pilot
Male

Age:
46

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
19 years

900 hours
(70 hours)

500 flights
(30 flights)

Location
Ager,
Ager,
Spain

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate,
Moderate Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Ozone
Zeno 2

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot suffered asymmetric collapse in turbulent thermal that caused the wing to go 'nose down'. Pilot stopped rotation but elected to deploy emergency chute do to low altitude.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
03.09.2023

Pilot
Male

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
21 years

2375 hours
(95 hours)

Location
Parlick west,
Preston/Chipping,
UK

Wind Strength:
15-20 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Ozone
Swift 6

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot reverse launched in strong breeze and was lifted immediately. Pilot noticed risers were twisted and decided to stall/turn the glider into the ground. Pilot was dragged before gaining control. On inspection pilot found that the left riser had clipped itself into the right carabiner. Pilot had swapped harnesses and had not screwed carabiners closed. Other harness had twist-lock carabiners.

Injury
Pilot:
Minor Injuries,

Hands, Arms, Shoulder

Last updated: 13 November 2024

Displaying page 15 out of 323

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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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