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 310 out of 329

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 20.04.2002	Pilot Male Age: 19	Location Barton, UK Wind Strength: 0-8 km/h Conditions: Smooth/Steady	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Swing Mistral Launch Type: Vehicle/Boat Tow	Summary During a tow launch the canopy gained 6ft altitude before descending due to lack of tension - as it did so the pilots body rotated resulting in the injury.	Injury Pilot: Unspecified injury to left leg.
Date 20.04.2002	Pilot Male Age: 44 Rating: P	Location Steyning, UK Wind Strength: 8-16 km/h Conditions: Gusts	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Trekking Dynasty Launch Type: Foot (Reverse)	Summary Flying in turbulent conditions encountered sinking air as he turned away from the ridge. This resulted in him sinking below the ridge and approaching a tree, the pilots attemps to turn away from the tree were too late.	Injury Unknown
Date 20.04.2002	Pilot Female Age: 42 Rating: AP	Location Darley Mook, UK Wind Strength: 16-24 km/h Conditions: Variable	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Airwave Fly 2 Launch Type: Aero Tow	Summary During a tandem aerotow launch turbulence caused the weak link to break. The pilot flew a downwind leg followed by an attempt to turn into wind. With insufficient height to complete the turn the pilot landed cross wind, hitting a fence.	Injury Pilot: Sore back
Date 19.04.2002	Pilot Male Age: 42 Rating: AP	Location Olivers Castle, UK Conditions: Thermic	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Swing Mistral Launch Type: Foot (Reverse)	Summary Pilot became lost during xc flight. Helipcopter approached and circled him. Pilot landed and was met by military police who cautioned him.	Injury Unknown
Date 17.04.2002	Pilot Male Age: 25 Rating: CP	Location Kimmeridge, UK Wind Strength: 16-24 km/h Conditions: Thermic	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Firebird Ignition Launch Type: Foot (Reverse)	Summary Inexperienced pilot attempted 360 degree turn with insufficient height - impacted the hill.	Injury Pilot: Fr both wrists, possible l ankle, bruising etc to face, concussion.
Date 15.04.2002	Pilot Male Age: 41	Location Ruddlers West, UK Wind Strength: 16-24 km/h Conditions: Variable	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Apco Prima Launch Type: Foot (Forward)	Summary Following a successful forward inflation the right control was applied for no apparent reason causing the canopy to bank and pull the pilot over.	Injury Pilot: Fr elbow
Date 14.04.2002	Pilot Male Age: 23	Location North Luffenham, UK Wind Strength: 8-16 km/h Conditions: Smooth/Steady	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Harley Paramount 9/ 288 Launch Type: Vehicle/Boat Tow	Summary Towing. Land Rover jumped out of gear during tow launch. Ram air parachute descended rapidly from 150ft. Pilot failed to flare and landed on coccyx.	Injury Pilot: Bruised coccyx
Date 13.04.2002	Pilot Unknown	Location Harting, UK Wind Strength: 16-24 km/h Conditions: Thermic	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Solar Wings Breeze Launch Type: Foot (Forward)	Summary Pilot seen to be flying close to the stall with insufficient altitude.	Injury Unknown
Date 13.04.2002	Pilot Male Age: 46 Rating: P	Location Harting, UK Wind Strength: 16-24 km/h Conditions: Thermic	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Airwave Magic 4 Launch Type: Foot (Forward)	Summary Pilot failed to unzip his harness during landing approach. Landed fully zipped up with 2mph ground speed which caused the nose to drop.	Injury Unknown
Date 08.04.2002	Pilot Unknown	Location Himachal Pradesh, India	Wing Type Paraglider	Summary Pilot lost in Himilayas.	Injury Pilot: Missing, presumed fatally injured.

Last updated: 21 May 2025

Displaying page 310 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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