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 flexwing hang glider wings 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 417 entries for flexwing hang glider wings

Displaying page 2 out of 42

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 24.05.2024	Pilot Male Age: 63 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 38 years 200 hours	Location Red Cliffs, Isle of Wight, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Airwave Pulse 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot turned to fly parallel to the cliff immediately after take-off without achieving sufficient airspeed and the pilot touched down cross wind, sustaining minor injuries.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
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 24.02.2024	Pilot Rating: P Flying Experience: 39 years 2200 hours (20 hours) 900 flights (17 flights)	Location Sutton Meadows, Ely, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Wills Wing Falcon 3 Launch Type: Aero Tow	Summary Whilst on landing approach the student made a control input turning the dual hang glider off course. The Instructor recovered the turn and aligned the glider with the runway but did not have time to round out before touchdown, resulting in a fast landing. An inspection revealed the landing had caused a bow in an upright.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt Passenger: Unhurt
Date 17.02.2024	Pilot Unknown	Location N/a, N/a, UK	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Moyes Matrix harness	Summary The pilot was recommended to sew the Emergency Parachute deployment handle supplied with their new harness to the inner container supplied by the Emergency Parachute manufacturer. The recommendation was queried by an Emergency Parachute Systems licence holder who was undertaking the installation of the packed parachute.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 03.08.2023	Pilot Male Age: 74 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 50 years (11 flights)	Location UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Moyes RX Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot made good takeoff but encountered turbulence while transferring hand to the base bar. Glider pitched up and stalled. With limited ground clearance pilot crashed into the slope.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 13.07.2023	Pilot Male Age: 57 Rating: P Flying Experience: 33 years 2500 hours (60 hours) 3500 flights	Location Bradwell Edge, Derbyshire, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: WillsWing T2C	Summary While putting on their harness pilot's hang glider was caught by a gust of wind and was rotated over a wall causing damage to the glider.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 13.06.2023	Pilot Male Age: 60 Rating: P Flying Experience: 9 years 140 hours (15 hours) 190 flights (22 flights)	Location East side of Dodd Fell, UK Wind Strength: 30-35 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Avian Rio 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot misjudged wind speed on approach for top landing and got caught behind the peak of the hill. Pilot landed heavily in rotor turbulence.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries
Date 11.06.2023	Pilot Male Age: 60 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 42 years 4000 hours (80 hours) 4000 flights	Location Semerwater, Yorkshire dales, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence, Leeside	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilots landed in non-negotiated field after comp task and encountered farmer who was annoyed the pilots had driven down a private road to collect their gliders.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 09.06.2023	Pilot Male Age: 55 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 24 years 50 hours (1 hour) 30 flights (1 flight)	Location Crimdon, Hartlepool, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Avian Rio 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot made good refresher top to bottom flight resulting in a good approach into wind. At approx 1m above the ground and feeling the glider begin to stall, pilot flared for landing. Glider rose approx 3m, stalled then dropped to the ground. Pilot was holding uprights causing broken arm.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 13.05.2023	Pilot Male Age: 58 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 41 years 150 hours (1 hour) (2 flights)	Location Deenethorpe Airfield, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Calm, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Avian Evo Launch Type: Aero Tow	Summary Pilot left the dolly at too low a speed, hang glider drifted to the right and was slightly high behind the tug at which point the pilot released. Left wing dropped severely in close proximity to the ground, possibly due to the release action. Pilot was able to recover and land with broken upright but no injury.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt

Last updated: 19 May 2025

Displaying page 2 out of 42

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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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