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 33 out of 329

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 11.09.2022	Pilot Female Age: 48 Rating: P Flying Experience: 26 years 70 hours (20 hours) 200 flights (30 flights)	Location Rutland, Rutland, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance Epsilon 9 Launch Type: Winch/vehicle Tow	Summary Pilot was unable to release Gin tow bridal from winch line as the locking pin was inserted too far into the loop of the three ring circus. With the loop going over the eye of the locking pin. Winch operator cut line and pilot eventually 'S' turned down to land.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 10.09.2022	Pilot Male Age: 55 Rating: P Flying Experience: 21 years 210 hours (10 hours) 250 flights (30 flights)	Location KittyHawk Aerodrome, West Sussex, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Airbourne Sting 3 Launch Type: Aero Tow	Summary Tug suffered engine-out during aerotow. Tug released line to hang glider pilot who was initially unable to make a release due to lack of tension. Pilot held the line in his teeth to create tension and was then able to release the line. Further inspection showed the line caught in the open shackle due to it being aligned in the opposite direction to when being towed.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 09.09.2022	Pilot Male Age: 63 Rating: P Flying Experience: 41 years 669 hours (8 hours) (19 flights)	Location Llangollen, Llangollen, UK Wind Strength: 30-35 km/h Conditions: Strong, Moderate Turbulence, Thundery	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Avian Evo3 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot took off in 30 degree crosswind in windy and thermic conditions. Pilot turned left into the wind but encountered turbulent, lifting and sinking air. Pilot was unable to turn right, despite weight shift, before impacting the slope.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Cervical Spine
Date 02.09.2022	Pilot Male Age: 63 Rating: P Flying Experience: 35 years 600 hours (50 hours) 1500 flights (75 flights)	Location Parlick East Face, Preston, Lancashire, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: BGD Base 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot encountered turbulence flying in strong conditions influenced by wave. Pilot lost control of the glider, which had possibly cravatted, and deployed his parachute. Pilot landed safely.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 30.08.2022	Pilot Male Age: 50 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 4 years	Location Treak Cliff, UK, Peak District, UK Wind Strength: 30-35 km/h	Wing Type Paraglider	Summary Pilot flew in the lee of a spine back ridge in very windy conditions on the way to a landing field. Pilot experienced severe turbulence and deployed parachute. Pilot landed unhurt.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 29.08.2022	Pilot Male Age: 57 Rating: P Flying Experience: 40 years 520 hours (6 hours) (6 flights)	Location Pinnacle Hill, Malverns, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Avian Evo Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot attempted to take off in breezy conditions using a nose man. On launching pilot realised that nose man had press on wires resulting in the nose angle being too low. Pilot tried to run but could not get the nose up. Base bar struck the ground and pilot swung through.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 28.08.2022	Pilot Male Flying Experience: 6 years	Location Blaenavon, S Wales, UK	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Uturn	Summary On transferring the pilots parachute to a new harness, a pull check revealed a manufacturing problem which meant the parachute wouldn't deploy. An incorrectly installed harness eyelet was left with open teeth that snagged on the fabric of the inner container making deployment impossible.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt Passenger: Unhurt
Date 25.08.2022	Pilot Male Age: 47 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 4 years 4 hours	Location Llangollen, UK	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Buzz 6 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot launched then released the controls to get into his harness. Glider suffered an asymmetric collapse and the glider rotated into the hillside before the pilot could regain control.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Feet, Legs
Date 25.08.2022	Pilot Male Age: 52 Rating: P Flying Experience: 38 years 400 hours (40 hours) 1000 flights (60 flights)	Location Forclaz, Annecy, France Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Alpina 3 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot launched with leg strap undone. The other strap was a step through one. Bracing strap and chest strap were done up. Pilot shocked to notice undone strap just after take off but was unable to fasten in-flight. Pilot landed safely.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 21.08.2022	Pilot Male Age: 54 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 3 years 9 hours (9 hours) 54 flights (54 flights)	Location Mount Caburn, Lewis, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Calm, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Mojo 6 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot continued to scratch on slope despite descending and got too low to make the landing field. Pilot made low turn to try and get into wind but failed to do so and landed heavily.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries

Last updated: 24 May 2025

Displaying page 33 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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