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 16 out of 324

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 23.09.2023	Pilot Male Age: 71 Rating: P Flying Experience: 29 years 1145 hours (56 hours) 2527 flights (99 flights)	Location Devil's Dyke, Brighton, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Niviuk Artik 6 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot hit sink while ridge soaring bringing pilot into head on conflict with other pilots. Pilot was now low and travelling down wind then collided with a fence.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries
Date 23.09.2023	Pilot Unknown	Location Swyre Hill, Dorchester, UK	Wing Type Paraglider	Summary During a training day instructor went for an air testing flight on one of the student's gliders. As instructor clipped in they noticed a crack to the R side waist (2 part T-type) buckle.	Injury Unknown
Date 23.09.2023	Pilot Male Age: 52 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 11 years 200 hours (15 hours) 700 flights (50 flights)	Location Devils Dyke, Brighton, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Very Strong, Very Strong Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Phi Beat Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot took off into strong lift. After several seconds the glider suffered an asymmetric collapse. Pilot landed heavily.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Lumbar Spine
Date 22.09.2023	Pilot Male Age: 51 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 36 years 1000 hours (95 hours) (47 flights)	Location Dunstable, Dunstable, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Niviuk Klimber 3p Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot was caught out by developing weather conditions and infringed airspace while trying to find a safe landing area.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 20.09.2023	Pilot Female Age: 40 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 3 years 2 hours (2 hours) 7 flights (7 flights)	Location Le Chabre, France Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance Alpha 7 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot did not notice during checks that speed bar line was caught in right leg strap. Pilot had to fly with full brake to keep control. On approach glider had asymmetric collapse then spin and stall. Pilot landed in pine trees.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs
Date 16.09.2023	Pilot Female Age: 64 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 4 years 17 hours (9 hours) 51 flights (22 flights)	Location Col de la Forclaz, Annecy, France Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Air Design Eazy 2 SL Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot misjudged approach having not factored in the valley wind and having taken a different approach path. Pilot landed short of the emergency landing area in the lake.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 16.09.2023	Pilot Male Age: 45 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 6 years 40 hours (5 hours) 80 flights (15 flights)	Location High and Over, South Downs, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions: Calm, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Buzz Z6 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot applied too much brake on landing in breezy conditions Pilot was lifted and blown back into a fence before landing heavily on the ground.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 14.09.2023	Pilot Male Age: 52 Rating: P Flying Experience: 26 years 500 hours (50 hours) 1000 flights (50 flights)	Location Chabre lower south, Chabre, France Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions:, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Delta 3 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot took off and immediately encountered strong lift. Pilot lost control and crashed heavily on the side of the hill.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 13.09.2023	Pilot Male Age: 53 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 6 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: 21 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

Last updated: 5 January 2025

Displaying page 16 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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