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 3339 entries for all wing types

Displaying page 31 out of 334

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 11.06.2023	Pilot Male Age: 60 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 42 years 4000 hours (80 hours) 4000 flights	Location Semerwater, Yorkshire dales, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence, Leeside	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilots landed in non-negotiated field after comp task and encountered farmer who was annoyed the pilots had driven down a private road to collect their gliders.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 09.06.2023	Pilot Male Age: 55 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 24 years 50 hours (1 hour) 30 flights (1 flight)	Location Crimdon, Hartlepool, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Avian Rio 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot made good refresher top to bottom flight resulting in a good approach into wind. At approx 1m above the ground and feeling the glider begin to stall, pilot flared for landing. Glider rose approx 3m, stalled then dropped to the ground. Pilot was holding uprights causing broken arm.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 04.06.2023	Pilot Male Age: 60 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 4 years 2 hours (1 hour) 8 flights (3 flights)	Location Monksdown, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Gin Bolero 4 Launch Type: Foot	Summary While practicing ground handling pilot was lifted off feet. Pilot flared and was lifted higher. Pilot turned upwind along the ridge without losing height. Pilot then turned downwind along the ridge and crashed at speed.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 04.06.2023	Pilot Male Age: 38 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 2 years 7 hours (7 hours) 18 flights (18 flights)	Location Heol Senni, Brecon, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions:, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: BGD Epic Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot was picked up, and blown/dragged back during launch, colliding with dry stone wall behind launch.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Head Injuries
Date 02.06.2023	Pilot Male Age: 54 Rating: P Flying Experience: 5 years 250 hours (50 hours) 307 flights (52 flights)	Location Burnbank Fell, Cockermouth, Cumbria, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance Iota DLS Launch Type: Foot	Summary While thermalling close to the hillside pilot misjudged distance from the slope and did not have room to complete the 360 turn. Pilot collided with hill down wind on take off area.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Feet, Legs
Date 27.05.2023	Pilot Male Age: 40 Rating: PPG Flying Experience: 8 years 300 hours (20 hours) (30 flights)	Location Somerton Drove, Somerton, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Powered PG Wing: BGD Epic Freestyle Launch Type: Powered Engine: Parajet, Maverick	Summary Whilst practicing stall to tailslide, pilot was too quick catching the dive on recovering from the tailside. Wing then entered parachutal stall then heli. Pilot did not recover heli and experienced riser twist that locked the brake lines. Pilot realised wing was unrecoverable and deployed emergency parachute, landing safely.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
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

Last updated: 13 November 2025

Displaying page 31 out of 334

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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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