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 3234 entries for all wing types

Displaying page 9 out of 324

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 27.04.2024	Pilot Male Age: 59 Rating: P Flying Experience: 26 years 500 hours (11 hours) 400 flights (11 flights)	Location St Cyrus, Aberdeenshire, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Rush 6 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot experienced an asymmetric deflation in the final stage of landing, and landed heavily on their back. The pilot cited wind strength and possible turbulence as contributory factors.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 27.04.2024	Pilot Male Age: 61 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 2 years 50 hours (23 hours) 75 flights	Location Tappeti, Montegrappa, Italy Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: BGD Epic 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot had the control handles around their wrists, but was not gripping the control handles in their hands. The pilot lost control of the paraglider during their forward launch.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs
Date 26.04.2024	Pilot Male Age: 54 Rating: P Flying Experience: 34 years 350 hours (25 hours) 500 flights (34 flights)	Location Hill Farm, Dereham, Norfolk, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent, Rain, Snow	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Photon Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot launched in drizzly conditions and during the flight the drizzle increased. They applied full speed bar which they released at approx. 75ft agl. Their descent was almost vertical and they landed very hard. The pilot cited the wet wing as a factor; being at, or close to parachute stall in unaccelerated flight.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 26.04.2024	Pilot Male Age: 52 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 21 years 160 hours (23 hours) 142 flights (17 flights)	Location Lewaigue, Ramsey, Isle Of Man Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Air Design Vivo Launch Type: Foot	Summary On top landing approach in moderately turbulent conditions, the pilot experienced an asymmetric collapse at 4 to 5m agl. They impacted the ground, sustaining injury.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 24.04.2024	Pilot Male Age: 71 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 1600 hours (10 hours) 3000 flights (15 flights)	Location Jeffrey Hill, Longridge, Lancashire, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Swift 6 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Shortly after launch the pilot attempted to get their legs into the pod and noticed that the normally easy procedure was difficult to accomplish. An internal tensioning line had snagged, effectively shortening the pod and causing their legs to become stuck in the pod. They noted that the correct action would have been to land safely as soon as they were aware of the problem, without persevering to get their legs fully into the pod.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 23.04.2024	Pilot Male Age: 58 Rating: P Flying Experience: 9 years 500 hours (30 hours) 1000 flights (30 flights)	Location None, None, UK	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Skywalk Chili 5 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot reported that their paraglider's aluminium speed system connectors ("Brummel hooks") had corroded significantly and cited coastal flying (sea air) as a factor. This was the environment in which the pilot had carried out the majority of their flying.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 23.04.2024	Pilot Male Age: 63 Rating: P Flying Experience: 4 years 138 hours (20 hours) 286 flights (22 flights)	Location Lords Seat, Peak District, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Calm, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Niviuk Hook 5 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The paraglider was laid out perpendicular to the wind in preparation for launch, and was caught by a gust, hoisting the pilot into the air. The paraglider was blown back into rotor and the pilot landed on their back.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 21.04.2024	Pilot Male Age: 56 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 34 years 2000 hours (6 hours) 3000 flights (9 flights)	Location Blorenge, Monmouthshire, UK Wind Strength: 30-35 km/h	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Wills Wing T2C Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot elected to use a launch assistant holding the nose wires, and another holding the right-hand side wires and leading edge. The hang glider turned right on launch, rotating into the hillside where the pilot sustained injury.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 20.04.2024	Pilot Male Age: 67 Flying Experience: 40 years 3000 hours (6 hours) 2000 flights (5 flights)	Location King Tor, NE Dartmoor, Devon, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions:, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Photon Launch Type: Foot	Summary The paraglider experienced an asymmetric collapse in thermic air, leading to a spin and dive before the pilot impacted the ground.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 14.04.2024	Pilot Male Age: 29 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 1 year 2 hours 20 flights (2 flights)	Location Devils Dyke, Brighton, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions:, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Phi Symphonia 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot landed on a tree in the middle of the slope, tangling the lines and canopy material on the tree.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt

Last updated: 2 December 2024

Displaying page 9 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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