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 3287 entries for all wing types

Displaying page 57 out of 329

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 17.09.2020	Pilot Female Rating: CP	Location Treak Cliff, Hope Valley, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Phi Symphonia Launch Type: Foot	Summary On the fourth flight of the day the pilot took off and the toe elastic for entering pod snapped, so pilot could not enter pod correctly.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 17.09.2020	Pilot Male Age: 42 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 15 years 30 hours (5 hours) 80 flights (6 flights)	Location Treak Cliff, Mam Tor, Castleton, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Buzz 5 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was ridge soaring when he was blown back into lee rotor, and lost control, leading to an impact with the ground.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 13.09.2020	Pilot Male Age: 30 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 6 years 35 hours (20 hours) 75 flights (40 flights)	Location Mount Caburn, Glynde, East Sussex, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Mojo 5 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was performing turns ("small wingovers") at low level and caught the emergency parachute deployment handle on the ground, initiating an unintentional deployment as the pilot flew away from the hill.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 13.09.2020	Pilot Male Age: 65 Rating: P Flying Experience: 7 years 170 hours	Location Ringstead bay, Weymouth, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Littlecloud Urubu Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot encountered rotor near the cliff, causing a collapse. The pilot impacted into bushes at the base of the cliff.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 08.09.2020	Pilot Male Age: 58 Rating: P Flying Experience: 35 years 200 hours (32 hours) 400 flights (72 flights)	Location Whitesheet (Wessex), Berwick St John, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance Iota 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was ridge soaring his paraglider and experienced rapid sinking air in thermic conditions causing a fast descent to the ground and a crash landing in a field behind take-off.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Pelvis
Date 31.08.2020	Pilot Male Age: 73 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 50 years 950 hours (9 hours) 2000 flights (30 flights)	Location Snaefel, Isle Of Man Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Swing Nyos RS Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot lost his footing on uneven ground in windy conditions. He sustained injury when he was dragged, before regaining control of the paraglider.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries
Date 31.08.2020	Pilot Male Age: 26 Rating: P Flying Experience: 10 years 41 hours (2 hours) 111 flights (10 flights)	Location Sutton Meadows Airstrip, Cambridge Aerotow, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Rigid Hang Glider Wing: Flight Design Exxtacy Launch Type: Aero Tow	Summary The pilot was attempting a nil-wind landing and had insufficient flap applied. Upon touchdown, his foot slipped and twisted, causing injury. The pilot considered his footwear not to have been appropriate and therefore a factor in the incident.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs
Date 17.08.2020	Pilot Male Age: 71 Rating: P Flying Experience: 21 years 450 hours (18 hours) 800 flights (15 flights)	Location Eype, Near Bridport, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Calm, Front Influence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Swing Arcus RS Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was attempting to top land and experienced a large asymmetric collapse during a rapid change in wind direction. The pilot was unable to regain full control and crashed near the front of the cliff.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 12.08.2020	Pilot Male Age: 52 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 21 years 1600 hours (30 hours) 1600 flights (30 flights)	Location Mam Tor, Castleton, Derbyshire, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Calm	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: UP Trango X-Race Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot took avoiding action to prevent an aerial collision with another paraglider.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 11.08.2020	Pilot Male Rating: Unqualified	Location No site, Scotland, UK	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: U Turn Secure 3 - EP front container	Summary The pilot was unable to make a test deployment without applying significant force to the handle. The pilots considered that the hook and loop used to secure the deployment handle covered a large area, making the handle difficult to tear off.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt

Last updated: 18 June 2025

Displaying page 57 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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