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 3344 entries for all wing types

Displaying page 24 out of 335

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 06.01.2024	Pilot Male Age: 56 Rating: P Flying Experience: 36 years 300 hours (5 hours) 500 flights (10 flights)	Location Selsley, Stroud, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: BGD Base Launch Type: Foot	Summary When performing a slope landing approach the pilot was not able to complete their turn into wind before striking the ground hard, causing injury. Amongst contributory factors, the pilot cited a lack of currency and a waterlogged bottom landing area that encouraged their slope landing attempt.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Feet, Legs
Date 06.01.2024	Pilot Male Age: 51 Rating: P Flying Experience: 4 years 55 hours (13 hours) 152 flights (31 flights)	Location Whitesheet, Shaftesbury, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions:, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: U-Turn Blacklight 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot undertook a top to bottom flight, flying into a landing field for the first time. They had not visited the landing area to assess it. The pilot misjudged their approach and slowed their paraglider down significantly in an attempt to avoid a house on their line of approach. The pilot's outstretched left arm contacted a raised area of ground, causing injury.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 26.12.2023	Pilot Male Age: 51 Rating: P Flying Experience: 36 years (16 hours) (30 flights)	Location Dunstable Downs, Dunstable, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance Iota Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot felt the paraglider lose pressure during a launch on a steep section of slope in light wind. They attempted to abort the launch but the wing overshot them, the pilot falling forwards and rolling over before coming to rest. The flight did not proceed.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 02.12.2023	Pilot Male Age: 24 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 3 years 17 hours (11 hours) 30 flights (15 flights)	Location Rushup, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Geo 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot misjudged approach to bottom landing field having encountered sink. Pilot was forced to make a tight turn to avoid a tree then struck the top of a wall.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Pelvis
Date 20.11.2023	Pilot Male Age: 63 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 32 years 800 hours (36 hours) 1600 flights (79 flights)	Location Devil's Dyke, South Downs, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Skywalk Mint Launch Type: Foot	Summary After landing, on packing up glider, Pilot discovered a brake line had gone through a crack in the riser maillon plastic insert and was wedged in and quite difficult to pull out again. Pilot does not know how the crack in the plastic insert occurred.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 17.11.2023	Pilot Male Age: 45 Rating: P Flying Experience: 32 years 545 hours (60 hours)	Location Darley Moor, Ashbourne, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Other Wing: Aeros NiNE (SSDR) Launch Type: Powered Engine: Polini, 303	Summary The pilot was undertaking a flight on this single seat flexwing microlight aircraft. Failure of the nyloc nut and bolt that secures the base bar’s rear control wires to the wing keel tube caused the wires to detach during flight. Despite the potential for aerodynamic instability, the pilot landed the aircraft successfully but the wing and propeller were badly damaged in the process. The manufacturer has issued replacement bolts and replaced the nyloc nut with a castellated nut and cotter pin. Pilots are to specifically check this fitting during their pre-flight checks to prevent a recurrence. The AAIB report for this aircraft contains further details.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 14.11.2023	Pilot Male Age: 68 Rating: P Flying Experience: 20 years 150 hours	Location Legzira, Mirleft, Morocco Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Gin Atlas Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot did not continue running during forward launch and crashed.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Pelvis
Date 11.11.2023	Pilot Male Age: 56 Rating: P Flying Experience: 25 years 800 hours	Location Carlton Bank, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Alpina 4 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot was scratching in light conditions and misjudged height and sink rate resulting in contact with the hill and heavy feet first impact.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs
Date 22.10.2023	Pilot Male Age: 59 Rating: P Flying Experience: 30 years 2379 hours (125 hours) 2000 flights (68 flights)	Location Eype, West Bay, UK Wind Strength: 30-35 km/h	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: 777 Queen 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot accidentally touched harness on ground while storing in strong wind conditions. Wing fell back and pilot was dragged into bench and bushed.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs
Date 19.10.2023	Pilot Female Age: 46 Rating: P Flying Experience: 5 years 47 hours (5 hours) 370 flights (43 flights)	Location Lift Sopot, Sopot, Bulgaria Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: UP Rimo Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot hit sink on final approach and was unable to get their legs down before catching a hump on the ground with the underside of their harness.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Thoracic Spine

Last updated: 10 December 2025

Displaying page 24 out of 335

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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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