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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.

Airglow

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

Incident reports for paraglider 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).

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 2455 entries for paraglider wings

Displaying page 11 out of 246

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Date Pilot Location Wing Type Summary Injury
Incident Reports

Date
24.01.2024

Pilot
Unknown
Location
None,
UK

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Air Design
Rise 4

Summary
Service Centre reported significant wear and tears in the leading edge material of the paraglider over the leading edge rods.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
24.01.2024

Pilot
Male

Age:
49

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
25 years

680 hours
(65 hours)

780 flights
(20 flights)

Location
Aguapanela,
Roldanillo,
Colombia

Wind Strength:
5-10 km/h

Conditions:
Strong,
Moderate Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Ozone
Delta 4

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
The pilot attempted to use their cockpit mounted XC stylus/pencil whilst in flight, and noted that its lanyard had looped around the deployment handle of their front-mounted emergency parachute, and then around itself - potentially tethering their deployment handle to the cockpit. The pilot was able to untangle the stylus lanyard from their parachute handle whilst airborne.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
06.01.2024

Pilot
Male

Age:
56

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
36 years

300 hours
(5 hours)

500 flights
(10 flights)

Location
Selsley,
Stroud,
UK

Wind Strength:
5-10 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
BGD
Base

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
When performing a slope landing approach the pilot was not able to complete their turn into wind before striking the ground hard, causing injury. Amongst contributory factors, the pilot cited a lack of currency and a waterlogged bottom landing area that encouraged their slope landing attempt.

Injury
Pilot:
Seriously Injured,

Feet, Legs

Date
06.01.2024

Pilot
Male

Age:
51

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
4 years

55 hours
(13 hours)

152 flights
(31 flights)

Location
Whitesheet,
Shaftesbury,
UK

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:,
Moderate Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
U-Turn
Blacklight 2

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
The pilot undertook a top to bottom flight, flying into a landing field for the first time. They had not visited the landing area to assess it. The pilot misjudged their approach and slowed their paraglider down significantly in an attempt to avoid a house on their line of approach. The pilot's outstretched left arm contacted a raised area of ground, causing injury.

Injury
Pilot:
Minor Injuries,

Hands, Arms, Shoulder

Date
26.12.2023

Pilot
Male

Age:
51

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
36 years

(16 hours)

(30 flights)

Location
Dunstable Downs,
Dunstable,
UK

Wind Strength:
5-10 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Advance
Iota

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
The pilot felt the paraglider lose pressure during a launch on a steep section of slope in light wind. They attempted to abort the launch but the wing overshot them, the pilot falling forwards and rolling over before coming to rest. The flight did not proceed.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
02.12.2023

Pilot
Male

Age:
24

Rating:
CP

Flying Experience:
3 years

17 hours
(11 hours)

30 flights
(15 flights)

Location
Rushup,
UK

Wind Strength:
5-10 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Light Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Ozone
Geo 2

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot misjudged approach to bottom landing field having encountered sink. Pilot was forced to make a tight turn to avoid a tree then struck the top of a wall.

Injury
Pilot:
Minor Injuries,

Pelvis

Date
20.11.2023

Pilot
Male

Age:
63

Rating:
AP

Flying Experience:
32 years

800 hours
(36 hours)

1600 flights
(79 flights)

Location
Devil's Dyke,
South Downs,
UK

Wind Strength:
20-25 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Skywalk
Mint

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
After landing, on packing up glider, Pilot discovered a brake line had gone through a crack in the riser maillon plastic insert and was wedged in and quite difficult to pull out again. Pilot does not know how the crack in the plastic insert occurred.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
14.11.2023

Pilot
Male

Age:
68

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
20 years

150 hours

Location
Legzira,
Mirleft,
Morocco

Wind Strength:
0-5 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Gin
Atlas

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot did not continue running during forward launch and crashed.

Injury
Pilot:
Minor Injuries,

Pelvis

Date
11.11.2023

Pilot
Male

Age:
56

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
25 years

800 hours

Location
Carlton Bank,
UK

Wind Strength:
5-10 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Ozone
Alpina 4

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot was scratching in light conditions and misjudged height and sink rate resulting in contact with the hill and heavy feet first impact.

Injury
Pilot:
Minor Injuries,

Feet, Legs

Date
22.10.2023

Pilot
Male

Age:
59

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
30 years

2379 hours
(125 hours)

2000 flights
(68 flights)

Location
Eype,
West Bay,
UK

Wind Strength:
30-35 km/h

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
777
Queen 2

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot accidentally touched harness on ground while storing in strong wind conditions. Wing fell back and pilot was dragged into bench and bushed.

Injury
Pilot:
Minor Injuries,

Feet, Legs

Last updated: 5 January 2025

Displaying page 11 out of 246

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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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