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 6 out of 334

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 02.05.2025	Pilot Male Age: 60 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 6 years	Location Wessex White Horse, Sutton Poyntz, UK	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Niviuk Ikuma Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot misjudged their landing approach, landing in a tree.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 02.05.2025	Pilot Male Age: 38 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 1 year 12 hours (6 hours) 34 flights (30 flights)	Location Spelga Hill, Spelga Dam, Mourne Mountains, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Swing Miura 2RS	Summary The pilot stepped on uneven ground whilst trying to abort a launch, sustaining injury when they lost their footing.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Feet, Legs
Date 30.04.2025	Pilot Male Age: 40 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 1 year 45 hours (30 hours)	Location N/A, Aberdeen, UK	Wing Type Paraglider	Summary During an emergency parachute repack, it was found that the deployment handle was attached to the bridle rather than the correct installation point on the emergency parachute inner container. The harness and parachute had been obtained second-hand. The packer rectified the error and the pilot who supplied the harness and parachute was informed.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 29.04.2025	Pilot Male Age: 62 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 13 years 600 hours (12 hours) 520 flights (20 flights)	Location Llantisilio, Lllangollen, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Buzz 7 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was attempting a reverse launch when the wing snagged on shrubs, partially inflated. It became inverted, with its leading edge on the ground. The pilot lost control of the paraglider and was dragged, sustaining injury.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries
Date 28.04.2025	Pilot Male Age: 57 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 3 years 556 hours (110 hours) 1287 flights (128 flights)	Location Plaine Joux, Passy, France Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence, Rain, Snow	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Air Design Volt 4 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot encountered heavy rain on a cross country flight and opted to fly in accelerated mode to a landing area. The pilot released the accelerator to use the controls to land and the paraglider entered a deep stall. The pilot fell through trees and sustained injury in the impact with the ground.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 28.04.2025	Pilot Male Age: 55 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 6 years 17 hours (1 hour) 68 flights (4 flights)	Location Shining Tor, Buxton, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Mac Para Aravis Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot misjudged the wind direction and crosswind element and collided with a wall.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 27.04.2025	Pilot Male Age: 65 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 36 years 1000 hours (10 hours) 1000 flights (14 flights)	Location Mendlesham, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Moyes RX Pro Launch Type: Winch/vehicle Tow	Summary The pilot made a Controlled Airspace infringement, citing having the wrong airspace file set on their navigation instrument, and unfamiliarity with the local flying environment.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 25.04.2025	Pilot Male Rating: P Flying Experience: 37 years 1000 hours (4 hours) 1000 flights (5 flights)	Location Howgills, Sedburgh, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Strong Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: 777 Queen 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot lost control of their paraglider on launch in gusty conditions and was dragged sideways. Once airborne the pilot realised their emergency parachute was partially released. The pilot managed to stow it and landed without further incident.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 22.04.2025	Pilot Male Age: 61 Rating: P Flying Experience: 31 years 874 hours (18 hours) 701 flights (10 flights)	Location Windbank, Kettlewell, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Strong Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Flow Paragliders Fusion Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot experienced a departure from normal flight, likely a large asymmetric collapse, upon exiting a thermal. The pilot cited strong winds and possibly encountering rotor as contributing to the loss of control. The paraglider lost a significant amount of height in its recovery and the pilot landed without further incident.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 20.04.2025	Pilot Male Age: 46 Rating: P Flying Experience: 20 years 600 hours (10 hours) 3000 flights (20 flights)	Location Back of Ecton, Ecton, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Photon Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was aware of the onset of a spin when using the controls to make tight turns in thermic conditions. Upon investigation the pilot noticed that the control line had twisted around itself, gathering some suspension lines, which were pulled when the pilot made a control input on that side. The pilot noted that they normally took wraps, twisting the control line above the spinner (fitted to prevent this type of line tangling).	Injury Pilot: Unhurt

Last updated: 13 November 2025

Displaying page 6 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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