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 415 entries for flexwing hang glider wings

Displaying page 15 out of 42

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 30.06.2013	Pilot Male Age: 45 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 12 years 2 hours	Location Tehidy Barton, Cornwall, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Wills Wing Sport 2 Launch Type: Winch/vehicle Tow	Summary During tow launch pilot allowed glider to lift off too early. It then started to drift and the pilot did not correct the turn. Winch backed off and glider nosed in. Pilot did not let go resulting in broken arm.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 08.06.2013	Pilot Male Age: 61 Rating: P Flying Experience: 34 years 500 hours	Location Mam Tor, Derbyshire, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Strong	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Avian Rio Launch Type: Foot	Summary During 'pre-flight' check the pilot noticed the nut had fallen off the bolt that holds the port side upper and lower wires. The nut could mort be found so the pilot could not fly.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 26.05.2013	Pilot Male	Location Long Mynd, Shropshire, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Moyes Litespeed S Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot came in for top landing still in prone and on the base bar. Immediately prior to landing the hang glider wing struck the rear of a paraglider pilot who was packing his wing in the landing area. The hang glider crashed and the nose of the glider struck the pilot on the back of his neck.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Cervical Spine
Date 19.05.2013	Pilot Male Age: 61 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 16 years 12 hours	Location Montmin, France Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Avian Rio Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot initiated ramp launch but was holding weight on uprights. Glider stalled off the end of the ramp struck a tree before spinning into smaller trees.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries
Date 12.05.2013	Pilot Male Age: 37 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 25 years 600 hours	Location Mickfield, Suffolk, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Wills Wing Talon Launch Type: Winch/vehicle Tow	Summary Having rigged and checked his glider quickly the pilot prepared for a winch launch. Immediately prior to launch, while clipped in and ready to go, a sudden increase in wind caused the nose wire catch to fail. The launch was stopped. No reason for the failure was found.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 20.04.2013	Pilot Male Age: 28 Flying Experience: 58 hours	Location Darley Moor, Derbyshire, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Wills Wing Falcon 3 Launch Type: Winch/vehicle Tow	Summary Having reached the top of the tow line the student found he could not release the line. The line was guillotined by the winch driver and the student followed emergency procedure and landed safely. A loose bolt on the release mechanism was found to be the cause.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 24.02.2013	Pilot Male	Location Big Fat Repack, Reading, UK	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider	Summary During repack, parachute deployment handle was found to have pins taped up. Incorrect deployment bag/harness combination.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 24.02.2013	Pilot Male	Location Big Fat Repack, Reading, UK	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider	Summary During a repack it was noted that the deployment handle had pins but there was nowhere for the pins on the harness. Parachute very difficult to deploy.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 27.10.2012	Pilot Male Age: 64 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 49 years 2000 hours 2000 flights	Location North Hill, Minehead, UK Wind Strength: 30-35 km/h Conditions:, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Moyes Litespeed RS Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot made inadequate run on take off in marginal conditions. Glider dropped a wing and rotated back into the hillside before ground looping.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Head Injuries
Date 11.08.2012	Pilot Male Age: 36 Flying Experience: 14 hours	Location Mendlesham, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Avian Rio Launch Type: Winch/vehicle Tow	Summary Student allowed glider nose to come up during initial tow and weak link snapped. Glider recovered and dived. Pilot impacted chest first.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured

Last updated: 5 January 2025

Displaying page 15 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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