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 3239 entries for all wing types

Displaying page 42 out of 324

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 26.08.2021	Pilot Male Age: 51 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 6 years 34 hours (27 hours) 102 flights (72 flights)	Location Llangollen, Denbighshire, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Mojo 5 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot launched in a crosswind which carried them over trees downwind of launch. The pilot sank into the trees when attempting to turn away from them.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 11.08.2021	Pilot Male Age: 53 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 5 years 1 hour (1 hour) 2 flights (2 flights)	Location Mount Caburn, Glynde, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: BGD Adam Launch Type: Foot	Summary A recently qualified Club Pilot was on a downwind leg of a flight back towards the hill and noticed the that the number of gliders in the air had considerably increased. To avoid the area perceived to be congested, the pilot turned towards the hill and landed hard on the slope, sustaining injury.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 11.08.2021	Pilot Male Age: 41 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 5 years 8 hours (7 hours) 30 flights (25 flights)	Location Butser South, Buster Hill, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance Epsilon 9 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was flying over trees and misjudged their flight path which resulted in a collision with a tree.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt Passenger: Unhurt
Date 02.08.2021	Pilot Male Age: 58 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 6 years 25 hours (15 hours) 70 flights (20 flights)	Location Parlick West, Preston, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Geo 6 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot attempted to top land in conditions described as strong and was seen to be "pinned" above the ridge having activated big ears, with zero groundspeed. The pilot was blown back into rotor and hit the ground.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Thoracic Spine
Date 26.07.2021	Pilot Male Age: 52 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 5 years 3 hours (2 hours) 13 flights (5 flights)	Location Bradwell, Derbyshire, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Mac Para Muse Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot misjudged their descent rate in sinking air and collided with the landing field's boundary fence.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 24.07.2021	Pilot Male Age: 60 Rating: P Flying Experience: 25 years 660 hours (30 hours) 1900 flights (65 flights)	Location Mount Caburn, Lewes, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Gin Explorer Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot made a landing approach in the bottom landing area. They dropped fast from around 10ft above the ground and landed heavily, causing injury. They suspected they had slowed the glider to the point of stall, although there were no witnesses to confirm this.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 20.07.2021	Pilot Male Age: 65 Rating: P Flying Experience: 10 years 153 hours (7 hours) 237 flights (12 flights)	Location Tinto, South Lanarkshire, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Calm	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Gin Sprint 3 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot inflated their paraglider in very light conditions and ran to take off. They tripped on an obstacle obscured by heather, causing injury.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs
Date 19.07.2021	Pilot Male Age: 42 Rating: P Flying Experience: 18 years 300 hours (20 hours)	Location Westbury White Horse, Westbury, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent, Leeside	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance Iota Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot encountered sinking air as the wind had changed to be across the hill. The pilot was unable to turn away from the hill in time and landed hard, incurring minor injuries.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries
Date 19.07.2021	Pilot Male Rating: AP	Location Mt Caburn, Lewes, UK	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: N/A N/A	Summary Upon inspection by the pilot it was discovered that the airbag material of the harness had stuck to itself, compromising its inflating function. The material was prised apart by the pilot. It was noted that the ambient temperature was high and this may have affected the material.	Injury Unknown
Date 18.07.2021	Pilot Male Age: 54 Rating: P Flying Experience: 34 years	Location Dee Estuary, Hoylake, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Powered HG Wing: Airplay Grif 3DC Launch Type: Powered Engine: Vittorazi, Moster	Summary The control frame was pulled in towards the pilot and rolled to the right during a taxi-ing manoeuvre. The propeller struck the rear wire, which was completely severed. The pilot ceased flight operations.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt

Last updated: 5 January 2025

Displaying page 42 out of 324

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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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