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 3239 entries for all wing types

Displaying page 10 out of 324

[ Top ] - [ Prev ] - [ Next ] - [ Bottom ]

Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 23.04.2024	Pilot Male Age: 58 Rating: P Flying Experience: 10 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: 5 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: 35 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: 41 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: 2 years 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
Date 08.04.2024	Pilot Male Age: 61 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 2 years 9 hours (6 hours) 64 flights (32 flights)	Location The Warren, Folkstone, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Gin Sprint 3 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot flew to the bottom landing area of a coastal site. They overshot the landing area, resulting in a landing on the beach, the glider overflying the pilot and into the sea. They unclipped from the harness and were able to recover the paraglider from the water with assistance.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 02.04.2024	Pilot Male Age: 68 Rating: P Flying Experience: 25 years 780 hours (6 hours) 1200 flights (28 flights)	Location Hill Farm tow, Norfolk, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Gradient Avax XC5 Launch Type: Winch/vehicle Tow	Summary The pilot was undertaking a series of wingovers and lost control during the exit from the final wingover. The wing dived with a cravat. The pilot deployed their emergency parachute and landed without injury.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 02.04.2024	Pilot Male Age: 65 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 4 years 63 hours (6 hours) 129 flights (16 flights)	Location Bradwell, Bradwell/Derbyshire, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Sky Paragliders Anakis 3 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot inadvertently stalled the paraglider in an attempt to reduce their speed over the ground during an unintended downwind landing approach.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 02.04.2024	Pilot Male Age: 68 Rating: P Flying Experience: 32 years 1700 hours (7 hours) 2000 flights (16 flights)	Location Private Beach cliff, County Down, Northern Ireland, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Swing Everest Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot launched their paraglider from a low cliff and noticed a brake line was twisted around the riser. Whilst the pilot was concentrating on correcting the twist the paraglider turned downwind. The pilot impacted a post, sustaining injury.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 01.04.2024	Pilot Male Age: 41 Rating: P Flying Experience: 4 years 110 hours (11 hours) 230 flights (20 flights)	Location Haresfield, Gloucester, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Rush 3 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot experienced sinking air immediately after take-off and turned towards the hill in an effort to exploit any ridge lift. They snagged a stabilo line on a tree, which resulted in a tree landing, causing damage to the glider.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt

Last updated: 5 January 2025

Displaying page 10 out of 324

[ Top ] - [ Prev ] - [ Next ] - [ Bottom ]

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.

• Go to: Safety
• Go to: Pilot Development
• Go to: Pilot Rating Scheme
• Go to: BHPA Courses
• Go to: Incident Reports (Informal)
• Go to: Incident Reports (Formal)
• Go to: Safety Notices
• Go to: CANP (Civil Aircraft Notification Procedure)
• Go to: NOTAMs (Notices to Aviation)
• Go to: Instructor & Coach Newsletters
• Go to: BHPA Documents
• Go to: BHPA Forms
• Go to: BHPA Fees