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 other 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 29 entries for other wings

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 14.07.2018	Pilot Male Age: 18	Location South Cerney, Cirencester, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h	Wing Type Other	Summary Whilst learning PLF student vigorously threw himself to the floor landing heavily on right shoulder.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 05.05.2018	Pilot Male Age: 57 Rating: Pilot parascending tow Flying Experience: 29 years 1500 flights (12 flights)	Location South Cerney, Cirencester, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Other Wing: Eiffe Classic Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot allowed glider to overfly him on tow launch and was dragged onto shoulder. Tow was aborted by driver.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 03.09.2017	Pilot Female Age: 13 Rating: Trainee Flying Experience: 10 years 27 flights (5 flights)	Location Barton Airfield, Manchester, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Other Wing: Waterbird Mistral	Summary Pilot became detached from tow line as drogue chute failed in strengthening wind. Pilot landed safely.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 02.06.2017	Pilot Male Age: 52 Rating: Unqualified Flying Experience: 9 years	Location Fly Sussex Shop, Glynde, UK	Wing Type Other	Summary Student had epileptic seizure while waiting to go out training.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries
Date 19.09.2015	Pilot Female Rating: Trainee Flying Experience: 10 years 17 flights (17 flights)	Location City Airport & Heliport Manchester, Manchester, UK	Wing Type Other Wing: Waterbird M Launch Type: Winch/vehicle Tow	Summary At some point between a first and second flight one of the harness connectors had become detached. On laughing the pilot went off to one side and the launch was aborted. Pilot landed heavily from 3m.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Thoracic Spine
Date 24.07.2013	Pilot Male Age: 48 Rating: P Flying Experience: 27 years 1000 hours	Location Sywell Aerodrome, Northampton, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Other Wing: Airglow Human Powered Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot launch aircraft but it went off line despite rudder input from pilot. Aircraft struck parked light aircraft but no damage caused. Slight damage to Airglow craft.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 13.07.2013	Pilot Male Age: 57 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 16 years 100 hours	Location Chetwynd, Shropshire, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Strong	Wing Type Other Wing: Harley 280E Launch Type: Winch/vehicle Tow	Summary Pilot began landing flare too high and glider stalled dumping pilot on his back.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Lumbar Spine
Date 13.07.2013	Pilot Male Age: 36 Flying Experience: 19 years 31 flights	Location North Luffenham Airfield, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Other Wing: Ascent International Waterbird	Summary One of the ground crew was knocked over unconscious as the canopy came up off the ground.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries
Date 14.07.2012	Pilot Male Age: 54 Rating: P Flying Experience: 46 years 3000 hours	Location Lasham, UK	Wing Type Other Wing: Barford Betterfly Launch Type: Powered Engine: Brooks, William	Summary During 'human powered' flight, joystick assembly became detached. Aircraft crash from 2m.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt

Last updated: 5 January 2025

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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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