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 3308 entries for all wing types

Displaying page 71 out of 331

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 01.09.2019	Pilot Male Rating: P Flying Experience: 8 years	Location Caoley Peak, Frocester, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Nova Mentor 4 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot suffered asymmetric collapse shortly after taking off. Pilot rotated into the hill from approx 20m. Westerly site with possibly more north than expected.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Lumbar Spine
Date 01.09.2019	Pilot Male Age: 39 Rating: P Flying Experience: 10 years 650 hours (70 hours)	Location Dunstable, Dunstable, UK	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Mantra 7 Launch Type: Foot	Summary On launching, pilot noticed that riser became caught on protrusion on karabiner designed to hold harness straps in place. Glider had thin risers making this more likely to occur.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 27.08.2019	Pilot Female Age: 46 Rating: P	Location Panetonne, Monte grappa, Italy Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions:, Light Turbulence, Flight In Clouds, Fog	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: U-Turn Blacklight 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot became disoriented in thickening cloud and applied incorrect input causing glider to spin close to the terrain. Pilot deployed emergency parachute but was too low and impacted side of ravine.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Lumbar Spine
Date 27.08.2019	Pilot Female Age: 49 Rating: Unqualified 12 flights	Location Swyre Hill, Dorchester, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: BGD Adam	Summary Student noticed strained leg muscle towards the end of the day. No particular incident of note.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs
Date 26.08.2019	Pilot Male Age: 42 Rating: P Flying Experience: 18 years 1000 hours (40 hours)	Location Newhaven, Nehaven, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: BGD Dual Launch Type: Foot	Summary Passenger tripped on take off lost footing and pilot and passenger slid down the front of take off into a bush.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt Passenger: Minor Injuries
Date 26.08.2019	Pilot Male Age: 54 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 21 years 220 hours (16 hours) 352 flights (16 flights)	Location Col d'Ares, Ager, Spain Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Avian Evo 3 Launch Type: Foot	Summary During comp, pilot left turn point low leaving no safe landing options. Pilot went for small field with intention of using drag chute to help. Pilot accidentally pulled emergency chute rather than drag chute forcing him to deal with this to avoid power lines, while attempting the landing. Drag deployed successfully but when at 1m above, the main chute deployed causing sudden stop. Glider sustained a bent upright.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 26.08.2019	Pilot Female Age: 33 Flying Experience: 6 years 30 flights (30 flights)	Location Steyning Bowl, Steyning, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Gin Bolero 5 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot did not run fast enough on launch and did not damp the gliders acceleration causing an asymmetric collapse on launch. Pilot contacted the ground again, glider remained inflated and she took off unharmed and flew to the bottom.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt Passenger: Unhurt
Date 25.08.2019	Pilot Male Age: 28 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 9 years 28 hours (4 hours) 50 flights (6 flights)	Location Alkus, East Tyrol, the alps, Austria Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Alpha Alpha 5 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot took off but once clear of the trees was immediately hit by the valley wind blowing at 90 degrees to take-off. Pilot was blown sideways and attempted to turn with the wind to avoid the trees. Unfortunately a wing tip caught on a pine tree resulting in the pilot swinging into the tree.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 24.08.2019	Pilot Male Age: 60 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 41 years 2500 hours (59 hours) 1600 flights (29 flights)	Location Coll D’Ares, Ager, Spain Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Strong, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Rigid Hang Glider Wing: A.I.R ATOS VQ11 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot misrigged glider while on the last day of a comp. Rib had not located on one side of the wing causing a flutter in the wing and a shudder on the basebar at speed. Pilot landed safely.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 23.08.2019	Pilot Male Age: 30 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 13 years 43 hours (1 hour) 69 flights (3 flights)	Location Milk Hill White Horse, Alton Barnes, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Strong, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Nova ION 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot suffered a stall on approach to top land in breezy conditions. Pilot suspects encountering unusual gust while on the brakes caused stall. Pilot considered it a poor decision to land where he did.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Hands, Arms, Shoulder

Last updated: 17 July 2025

Displaying page 71 out of 331

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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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