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 45 out of 324

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 08.06.2021	Pilot Male Age: 64 Rating: P Flying Experience: 47 years 650 hours (20 hours) 1000 flights (45 flights)	Location Sutton Meadows, Cambridgeshire, UK	Wing Type Other Wing: Unknown Hang Glider launch trolley	Summary After the final, successful, aerotow launch of the day the launch trolley front left side wheel bracket was discovered to be bent and broken on one side. Subsequent inspection found cracks in three of the four flanges on top of the bottom end of the support struts to which the two front wheels attach.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 05.06.2021	Pilot Male Age: 64 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 29 years 1000 hours (30 hours) (10 flights)	Location Pen Cerrig calch, Abergavenny, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Flow Paragliders Fusion Light Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot flew close to the hill in thermic conditions in order to observe an incident / activity on the ground. The paraglider experienced an asymmetric collapse, turning it towards the hill. The pilot's corrective control input stalled the paraglider and the pilot impacted the ground.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 05.06.2021	Pilot Male Age: 49 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 29 years 2000 hours (40 hours) 1000 flights (35 flights)	Location Pen Cerrig calch, Abergavenny, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Strong Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Gin Leopard Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was ridge soaring in thermic conditions. They encountered sinking air on a downwind beat and were unable to turn away from the hill due to flight paths of other pilots. The pilot was unable to out-glide the shallow slope and impacted the ground.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 04.06.2021	Pilot Female Age: 60 Rating: P Flying Experience: 15 years 800 hours (1 hour) (3 flights)	Location Westbury White Horse, Wiltshire, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Rush 5 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was blown back on launch and collided with a bench. The pilot considered they did not take sufficient time to assess the wind speed.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 04.06.2021	Pilot Male Age: 60 Rating: P Flying Experience: 46 years 1500 hours (13 hours) 2000 flights (17 flights)	Location Merthyr, Merthyr Tydfil, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance Omega X-Alps 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot reverse launched their wing in light cross-wind conditions and adopted a head-down, arms-straight-behind pose that they had not previously attempted down a steep hill. The paraglider tips were seen to fold back and the pilot somersaulted over the edge of the hill, causing injury.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 01.06.2021	Pilot Male Age: 51 Rating: P Flying Experience: 34 years 300 hours (2 hours) 1000 flights (15 flights)	Location Beer, Beer, South Devon, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions:, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Ultralight 3 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot launched from easterly facing cliffs expecting to ridge soar. They encountered sinking air and landed uninjured in the undergrowth on the slope.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs
Date 31.05.2021	Pilot Male Age: 30 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 7 years 100 hours (15 hours) 120 flights (20 flights)	Location Corndon, Shropshire, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance Iota 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary During a series of felt and right turn pilot suffered an asymmetric collapse and cravat at 100ft. Pilot landed heavily on a rock	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Feet, Legs
Date 31.05.2021	Pilot Male Age: 30 Rating: CP	Location Mam Tor, Castleton/ Derbyshire, UK Wind Strength: 35-40 km/h Conditions: Calm, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Wing: Ozone Zero 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary During a soaring flight in thermic conditions the pilot experienced an asymmetric collapse whilst flying with trimmers released (accelerated). The paraglider turned towards its collapsed side, and into the hill. The pilot impacted the hillside and sustained injury.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 30.05.2021	Pilot Male Age: 59 Rating: P	Location Pandy, Abergavenny, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Gin Camino Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was launching in strong conditions and was lifted off their feet. The pilot was seen to turn partly the wrong way and made a control input that turned them into slope, where they landed on their upper back.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Internal Injuries
Date 30.05.2021	Pilot Male Age: 55 Rating: P	Location Chillerton, Isle of Wight, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Calm, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: BGD Lynx Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot induced a spin during soaring flight and collided with the hill, sustaining injury.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured

Last updated: 5 January 2025

Displaying page 45 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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