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 3283 entries for all wing types

Displaying page 26 out of 329

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 26.05.2023	Pilot Male Age: 64 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 18 years 1000 hours (50 hours) 1000 flights (30 flights)	Location Malvern Kettle Sings, Malvern, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Strong, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Zeno Launch Type: Foot	Summary While flying through sink on half bar pilot entered a strong thermal. Wing suffered 70% asymmetric collapse resulting in a large cravat. Pilot could not maintain heading so deployed emergency parachute and landed safely.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs
Date 24.05.2023	Pilot Male Age: 59 Rating: P Flying Experience: 8 years 75 hours (12 hours) 228 flights (20 flights)	Location Babadag 1900, Oludeniz, Turkey Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Phi Symphonia Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot suffered frontal collapse on launch. Suspected fell out of back of thermal. Landed on rocky ground from approx 3m.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 22.05.2023	Pilot Male Age: 60 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 4 years 20 hours (5 hours) 40 flights (20 flights)	Location Clough head, Keswick, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence, Front Influence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Buzz6 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot launched into a short-lived thermal cycle and had to slope land. Pilot landed on uneven, rocky ground, damaging ankle.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Feet, Legs
Date 21.05.2023	Pilot Male Age: 24 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 4 years 20 hours (5 hours) 60 flights (8 flights)	Location Putsbrough, North Devon, North Devon, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Skywalk Arriba Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot took off on a coastal cliff soaring flight but misjudged wind strength. Being unable to gain the required height for a top landing the pilot was forced to land in the sea as there were no beach options. Pilot landed close to rocks and was eventually rescued. Pilot was unable to recover wing from the water.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 20.05.2023	Pilot Male Age: 56 Rating: P Flying Experience: 21 years 1200 hours (65 hours) 400 flights (40 flights)	Location Near Loft Crag,, Langdale, Cumbria, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions:, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Zeolite GT Launch Type: Foot	Summary In light winds pilot reversed launched into a breeze that was stronger than expected. Pilot was lifted off while still facing the wrong way resulting in a full riser twist. Pilot elected to fly out to get height but glider entered a turn and pilot collided with the hill at speed while still facing backwards.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries
Date 16.05.2023	Pilot Male Age: 72 Rating: P Flying Experience: 50 years 3000 hours (50 hours)	Location Black Hill, Manaton, Devon, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: BGD Cure Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot was flying small site in windy and gusty conditions with the wind off the hill. Pilot misjudged approach and had asymmetric collapse, landing heavily.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Feet, Legs
Date 16.05.2023	Pilot Male Age: 75 Rating: P Flying Experience: 49 years 10000 hours (3 hours) (4 flights)	Location Afton, IOW, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Strong Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Niviuk PEAK4 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot lost control of glider while thermalling in strong conditions. Pilot suspects over control lead to spin and eventual stall onto hill top.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 13.05.2023	Pilot Male Age: 36 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 5 years 60 hours	Location Hartlepool Headland Town Moor, Hartlepool, UK	Wing Type Powered PG Wing: Ozone Roadster 3	Summary Pilot crashed while paramotoring but has no memory of the incident.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Feet, Legs
Date 13.05.2023	Pilot Male Age: 44 Rating: P Flying Experience: 9 years 300 hours (25 hours) 500 flights (25 flights)	Location Cairngorms, Nr Tomintoul, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions: Calm, Strong Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Alpina 4 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot didn't notice increase in wind strength and crossed high terrain into complex valley system. Pilot encountered severe turbulence and deployed emergency parachute. Pilot was dragged 250m before getting parachute under control.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Pelvis
Date 13.05.2023	Pilot Male Age: 58 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 41 years 150 hours (1 hour) (2 flights)	Location Deenethorpe Airfield, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Calm, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Avian Evo Launch Type: Aero Tow	Summary Pilot left the dolly at too low a speed, hang glider drifted to the right and was slightly high behind the tug at which point the pilot released. Left wing dropped severely in close proximity to the ground, possibly due to the release action. Pilot was able to recover and land with broken upright but no injury.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt

Last updated: 24 May 2025

Displaying page 26 out of 329

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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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