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 94 out of 324

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 21.03.2018	Pilot Male Age: 57 Rating: P Flying Experience: 15 years 230 hours (12 hours) 882 flights (46 flights)	Location Dunstable, Dunstable, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance Iota Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot flew into an area with limited options hoping to find lift. Found none and landed in bush.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 21.03.2018	Pilot Male Age: 49 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 28 years 1000 hours (20 hours) 1000 flights (10 flights)	Location Sutton Meadows, Cambridgeshire, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Moyes Litespeed Launch Type: Aero Tow	Summary On release at 2000' at the top of the aerotow the pilot's barrel release string wrapped around itself and knotted, causing itself, and hence the pilot, to remain connected from one side of the harness to the standard metal ring on the end of the tow line. Pilot was able to force a weak link break and landed safely.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 21.03.2018	Pilot Male Age: 59 Rating: P Flying Experience: 15 years 300 hours (15 hours) 500 flights (20 flights)	Location Devil's Dyke, Sussex, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Gin Gliders Carrera+ Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot made course correction when pilot in front turned sharper than he expected while ridge soaring in busy conditions. This corrected path resulted in a midair collision with another paraglider who was passing below. Both pilots landed safely.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 20.03.2018	Pilot Male Age: 50 Rating: P Flying Experience: 11 years 411 hours (61 hours) 466 flights (45 flights)	Location Llangollen, Llangollen, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Mac Para Icon Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot experienced turbulence when returning to the ridge to top land. Glider suffered frontal collapse, which recovered but had turned the pilot towards the hill with little height. Glider then suffered another full collapse and the pilot crashed into pine forrest. Pilot was rescued by Mountain Rescue.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 16.03.2018	Pilot Male Age: 65 Rating: P Flying Experience: 22 years 500 hours (60 hours) 1500 flights (180 flights)	Location Warren, Folkestone, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Skywalk Chili 3 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot encountered turbulence while making an approach to top land on clifftop site.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries
Date 15.03.2018	Pilot Male Age: 55 Rating: None aircraft mechanic	Location Belfast, UK	Wing Type Powered PG	Summary Experienced Aircraft Mechanic completely unfamiliar with paramotoring decided to work at home on a friends paramotor. The engine was run without a safety cage but sitting on a small wood board. The engine suddenly reved up, started to lift and tilt releasing from the board. The mechanic was struck hard on the face diagonally with 2 strikes from the carbon prop that did eventually break.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Head Injuries
Date 13.03.2018	Pilot Male Age: 62 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 8 years 10 hours (10 hours) 10 flights (8 flights)	Location Freathy, Cornwall, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance Epsilon 5 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot crash landed on rocks having got low while coastal soaring. Pilot hoped to find lift where he had found it previously on the flight but did not.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 13.03.2018	Pilot Male Age: 58 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 18 years 600 hours (6 hours) 700 flights (6 flights)	Location Bradwell, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance Sigma 10 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot spun glider while thermalling. Glider stayed in deep stall possibly due to incorrect pilot input.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries
Date 11.03.2018	Pilot Male Age: 54 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 41 years 150 hours (12 hours) 100 flights (15 flights)	Location Parlick East, Lancashire, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Avian Rio 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot misjudged approach and was short of official landing field. In attempting to reach an adjacent field the pilot accidentally stalled the glider due to the wind gradient.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 11.03.2018	Pilot Male Age: 55 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 8 years	Location Parlick Pike (East), Preston/Lancashire, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Avian Rio Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot landed short in field adjacent to landing field but was also slightly crosswind. Left hand side of control frame struck the ground first causing the pilot to swing through.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Hands, Arms, Shoulder

Last updated: 5 January 2025

Displaying page 94 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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