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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.

Paraglider (Courtesy Grant Oseland)

Incident reports are available in summary form for the following wing types:

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).

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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 5 out of 42

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Date Pilot Location Wing Type Summary Injury
Incident Reports

Date
04.04.2021

Pilot
Male

Age:
74

Rating:
AP

Flying Experience:
44 years

1500 hours
(8 hours)

2000 flights
(6 flights)

Location
Long Mynd,
Shropshire,
UK

Wind Strength:
25-30 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate,
Moderate Turbulence

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Wills Wing
Sport 3

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
The pilot was making a top landing and took action to avoid collision with bystanders on the pilot's line of final approach, resulting in a dropped wingtip and subsequent heavy landing, which broke an upright.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
11.10.2020

Pilot
Male

Age:
60

Rating:
AP

Flying Experience:
36 years

500 hours
(10 hours)

500 flights
(15 flights)

Location
Longridge Fell,
UK

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate,
Moderate Turbulence,
Leeside

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Moyes
Litespeed RX

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
The pilot encountered turbulence when top landing behind the crest of the hill and lost control of the hang glider at low level. The corner of the base bar hit the ground and stopped dead whilst the pilot swung forward with momentum, injuring the pilot's wrist on the upright.

Injury
Pilot:
Minor Injuries,

Hands, Arms, Shoulder

Date
22.06.2020

Pilot
Male

Age:
59

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
35 years

351 hours
(5 hours)

462 flights
(5 flights)

Location
Freathy,
Near Plymouth,
UK

Wind Strength:
15-20 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Moyes
Lightsport

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
The pilot set up his top landing approach too far back and was caught in rotor. This caused the aircraft to crash in the field behind take off.

Injury
Pilot:
Seriously Injured,

Head Injuries

Date
31.05.2020

Pilot
Male

Age:
62

Rating:
AP

Flying Experience:
49 years

1050 hours
(2 hours)

1200 flights
(3 flights)

Location
Not stated,
UK

Wind Strength:
15-20 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate,
Light Turbulence

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Wills Wing
T2c

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot misjudged distance on approach to landing and failed to maintain sufficient airspeed to flare, leading to a heavy landing.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
30.05.2020

Pilot
Male

Rating:
CP

Location
Mam Tor,
Peak District,
UK

Wind Strength:
15-20 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Avian
Rio2

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
The pilot was too low to turn to the landing field, being in close proximity to a line of trees between the slope he was flying and the landing field. He was seen to collide with the slope.

Injury
Pilot:
Minor Injuries,

Hands, Arms, Shoulder

Date
13.03.2020

Pilot
Male

Age:
60

Rating:
CP

Flying Experience:
47 years


Location
Dunstable,
Luton,
UK

Wind Strength:
15-20 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Air Wave
Calypso

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot flew into hillside having apparently misjudged the amount of available lift.

Injury
Pilot:
Minor Injuries,

Head Injuries

Date
07.02.2020

Pilot
Male

Age:
61

Rating:
CP

Flying Experience:
40 years

730 hours
(13 hours)

530 flights
(10 flights)

Location
Mala Lanzarote,
Spain

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate,
Light Turbulence

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Avian
Puma

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot misjudged final flare on landing, allowing nose to drop after touch-down. Pilot hit rear edge of speed upright with upper arm.

Injury
Pilot:
Seriously Injured,

Hands, Arms, Shoulder

Date
19.01.2020

Pilot
Male

Age:
57

Rating:
AP

Flying Experience:
42 years

3000 hours
(100 hours)

3000 flights
(50 flights)

Location
Bradwell Edge,
Derbyshire,
UK

Wind Strength:
5-10 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Moyes
Rx3.5pro

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot approached a paraglider pilot who was invisible to him due to low sun. At the last second the pilot dived under and to the right of the paraglider, narrowly avoiding a collision.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
15.09.2019

Pilot
Male

Age:
63

Location
Long Mynd,
Church Stretton,
UK

Wind Strength:
25-30 km/h

Conditions:,
Moderate Turbulence

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Moyes
Rx

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Non-member pilot misjudged approach and crashed in bracken short of the landing field.

Injury
Pilot:
Minor Injuries,

Hands, Arms, Shoulder

Date
05.09.2019

Pilot
Male

Age:
64

Rating:
AP

Flying Experience:
48 years

1000 hours
(8 hours)

2500 flights
(12 flights)

Location
Westbury White Horse,
Westbury,
UK

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Light Turbulence

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Wills Wing
T2

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
While test flying a glider the pilot found himself in a right hand turn. The pilot could not counter the turn and circled into the hillside. Pilot suspects he may have been flying too slow due to unfamiliarity with the glider.

Injury
Pilot:
Seriously Injured,

Hands, Arms, Shoulder

Last updated: 5 January 2025

Displaying page 5 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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