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 421 entries for flexwing hang glider wings

Displaying page 14 out of 43

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 23.07.2014	Pilot Male Age: 68 Rating: P Flying Experience: 40 years 670 hours (13 hours) 1200 flights (15 flights)	Location Bo-Peep, E Firle, Sussex, Alciston, Firle, Sussex, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Strong, Strong Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Airborne C4 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot overshot top landing and attempted to regain height but without success. Pilot made approach for bottom landing but with insufficient airspeed. wing was lifted by thermal and turned glider. Pilot got wings level but too low and landed heavily with speed. Glider nosed in.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Head Injuries
Date 14.07.2014	Pilot Male Age: 60 Rating: P Flying Experience: 50 years (20 hours) (50 flights)	Location Mendlesham tow field, Mendlesham, Suffolk, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Aeros Discus 15 Launch Type: Winch/vehicle Tow	Summary 6-8mph 45% cross wind landing, gust/thermal on touchdown, got turned downwind and landed heavily.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 05.07.2014	Pilot Male Age: 40 Rating: P Flying Experience: 34 years 170 hours (18 hours) 503 flights (52 flights)	Location Woolacombe, Woolacombe, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Calm, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Wills Wing Falcon 3 Tandem Launch Type: Foot	Summary As wheels prepared to touch down on bottom landing, slight weight shift from passenger and pilot caused one wheel to touch on longer grass. Base bar caught thicker grass and instead of the wheels rolling glider suddenly stopped and nosed into ground.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Hands, Arms, Shoulder Passenger: Minor Injuries
Date 23.03.2014	Pilot Male Rating: P Flying Experience: 70 hours (7 hours) 230 flights (15 flights)	Location Devil's Dyke, Brighton Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions: Strong, Strong Turbulence, Thundery	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Airborne Sting 3 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot caught hand on rear wires and failed to grasp upright resulting in pilot losing control in strengthening winds and entered steep turn. Pilot crashed and ended up on top of his glider.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt Passenger: Unhurt
Date 16.03.2014	Pilot Male Age: 42 Rating: None. Training - post EPC Flying Experience: 12 years 1 hour (1 hour) 30 flights (10 flights)	Location Perran Sands, Cornwall, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Avian Elan Launch Type: Foot	Summary Student could not get glider turned into wind on final approach and crashed downwind into a caravan.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 04.03.2014	Pilot Male Age: 53 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 27 years 210 hours (50 hours) 100 flights (25 flights)	Location Valle de Bravo, Mexico City, Mexico Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Very Strong, Strong Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Avian Cheetah Evo Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot crashed into hedge having ran out of landing options attempting to maximise distance in a competition. Pilot had assumed he would reach lift coming from a ridge but the lift was too violent to utilise.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 01.03.2014	Pilot Male Age: 24 Rating: Pilot hill,tow,aerotow,power and air experience instructor dual aerotow Flying Experience: 18 years 350 hours (30 hours) 200 flights (10 flights)	Location Sywell Aerodrome, Sywell (northampton), UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Calm, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Wills wings Talon 150 Launch Type: Aero Tow	Summary While undergoing a trolly launch the glider wheel became caught on the trolly. The glider slewed off to one side and crashed heavily.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Head Injuries
Date 11.01.2014	Pilot Male Age: 38 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 31 years 342 hours 1500 flights	Location Dunstable Downs, Dunstable, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Avian Evo 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot was too low and too far back on approach to top landing. Pilot avoided a parked glider on the ground and got glider into wind then hit the ground. Pilot let go and swung through the A frame and was hit in the back by the nose of the glider. 'Angle of dangle' rope had snapped due to wear.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 09.11.2013	Pilot Female Age: 53 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 46 years 6000 hours 3000 flights	Location Darley Moor, Derbyshire, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Wills Wing Falcon 3 Launch Type: Aero Tow	Summary Pilot released the leader rope from the keel but the rope caught on the tow rope ring and became knotted. Weak link broke and pilot was able to continue the flight.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 09.10.2013	Pilot Male Age: 40 Rating: P Flying Experience: 32 years 130 hours 450 flights	Location Woolacombe, Devon, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Wills Wing Sport 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary While testing the air the pilot unknowingly became close enough to a naval helicopter to experience turbulence from the rotors. The situation was discussed at club level and later at a meeting with the local squadron.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt

Last updated: 12 September 2025

Displaying page 14 out of 43

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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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