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 88 out of 329

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 22.07.2018	Pilot Male Rating: CP	Location Rhossili, Swansea, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions:, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Vibe Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot clipped the side of the hill while ridge soaring. This spun the glider round, locking off the controls. The glider then turned into the hill at speed.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 21.07.2018	Pilot Male Age: 19 Rating: CP	Location Mt Caburn, Glynde, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Unknown Unknown Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot turned sharply and dived into the hill (hit side of slope) with speed.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Feet, Legs
Date 18.07.2018	Pilot Male Age: 19 Rating: Novice Flying Experience: 8 years 9 hours (5 hours) 25 flights (10 flights)	Location Sywell Aerodrome, Northampton, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Other Wing: John McIntyre Airglow Launch Type: Powered Engine: Arkwright, 175cm 61kg	Summary During human power competition pilot overshot the landing area having miscalculated the distance required to stop the aircraft. Aircraft side wire caught a runway light causing some damage to the aircraft.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 18.07.2018	Pilot Male Age: 50 Rating: P Flying Experience: 13 years 160 hours (50 hours) 290 flights (20 flights)	Location Milk Hill, Pewsey, Wiltshire, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Skywalk Spice Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot suffered asymmetric collapse and spin while trying to thermal tightly at low level. Pilot could not regain control before impacting the hill.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Head Injuries
Date 18.07.2018	Pilot Male Age: 55 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 36 years 1000 hours (40 hours) 1000 flights (50 flights)	Location Egerton, Headcorn, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Other Wing: Cyclone Airsports Chaser S Launch Type: Powered Engine: Rotax, 447	Summary Pilot landed microlight safely but caught foot on throttle while correcting a turn. Relaxing the pressure caused the course to deviate again, and the resulting attempts to manage both throttle and steering caused an oscillation, which led to the aircraft turning over onto its side. Pilot was able to release seat belt and exit aircraft with no injury.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 16.07.2018	Pilot Male	Location Dunstable downs, Dunstable, UK Wind Strength: +45 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Strong Turbulence, Front Influence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Gin Sprint Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot was caught out by sudden increase in wind strength due to frontal activity. Pilot was blown back over the hill and crashed heavily.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 15.07.2018	Pilot Male Rating: CP Flying Experience: 8 years 400 hours (75 hours) 150 flights (75 flights)	Location Eype, Bridport, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: BGD Cure Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot collided with cliff face while ridge soaring.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 15.07.2018	Pilot Male Age: 39 Rating: P Flying Experience: 13 years 160 hours (30 hours) 300 flights (45 flights)	Location Milk Hill, Wiltshire, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance Epsilon 8 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot encountered strong turbulence while ridge soaring. Glider collapsed but pilot was able to recover and land safely.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 14.07.2018	Pilot Male Age: 44 Rating: P Flying Experience: 30 years 250 hours (26 hours) 300 flights (30 flights)	Location Magic, SE Wales, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Niviuk Artik 5 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Reverse launch take off in strong winds. Pilot was lifted off the ground whilst facing the glider. Unable to rotate to untwist the lines, brake input was ineffective. Glider turned slowly and impacted hill with some force.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 14.07.2018	Pilot Male Age: 40 Rating: P	Location Milk, Wiltshire, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Strong Turbulence, Leeside	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Rush 4 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot encountered turbulence while ridge soaring as wind was off to the south causing leeside turbulence. Pilot suffered frontal collapse and crashed onto the hillside.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Feet, Legs

Last updated: 15 June 2025

Displaying page 88 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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