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 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).

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 2455 entries for paraglider wings

Displaying page 3 out of 246

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 22.08.2024	Pilot Male Age: 25 Rating: Unqualified Flying Experience: 1 year 2 flights	Location Buching, Fuessen, Germany Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Independence Cruiser 4 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Shortly after launch the pilot noticed that their emergency parachute had come out of the front-mounted outer container. The pilot was able to stow the parachute between their thighs, and they landed without further incident.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 14.08.2024	Pilot Male Age: 53 Rating: P Flying Experience: 45 hours	Location Windbank, Hawkswick, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Buzz Z7 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot lost their footing and was dragged along the take off area when reverse launching.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs
Date 12.08.2024	Pilot Male Age: 40 Rating: P Flying Experience: 6 years 88 hours (12 hours) 117 flights (15 flights)	Location Bell Hill, Sturminster Newton, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Air Design Vivo Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot experienced an asymmetric collapse on bottom landing approach and struck the ground, sustaining injury. The pilot noted the possible presence of rotor in the lee of a large tree upwind of the pilot's track on final approach.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 11.08.2024	Pilot Male Rating: Unknownown	Location Pendle East, Lancs, UK	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Unknown Unknown	Summary A paraglider was reported to have crashed at the top of the steps. Mountain Rescue attended. The pilot walked down the hill and was transferred to air ambulance to hospital. No further details available at this time.	Injury Unknown
Date 04.08.2024	Pilot Male Age: 41 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 2 years 32 hours (21 hours) 75 flights (40 flights)	Location Crete Road, Folkestone, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Buzz Z6 Launch Type: Foot	Summary On approach to the landing field in conditions they described as becoming turbulent, the pilot opted to lose height by making dynamic turns and they inadvertently induced the paraglider to spin. It surged and recovered facing towards the hill and the pilot managed to land across the slope, the wing becoming entangled in bushes.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 03.08.2024	Pilot Male Age: 48 Rating: P Flying Experience: 4 years 571 hours (105 hours) 1264 flights (86 flights)	Location Long Mynd, Shropshire, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Gin Camino 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot experienced a full frontal collapse when thermalling. The paraglider re-inflated with a large cravat. The pilot deployed their emergency parachute successfully.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 31.07.2024	Pilot Male Age: 63 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 6 years 37 hours (5 hours) 105 flights (15 flights)	Location Kettle Sings (East), Malvern, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: BGD Echo 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot reverse launched their paraglider in light conditions and experienced a strong pull to the left after take-off. Straight flight could only be made with right weight-shift and application of right-hand brake. They could not detect any knot in the lines or deformation of the wing. They proceeded to the landing area and landed without injury.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 30.07.2024	Pilot Unknown	Location N/A, UK	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance Alpha 7	Summary During a routine service at a service centre, the technician identified a 2cm long reduction in thickness of a top level C suspension line (the line level which is connected directly to the wing). Further investigation revealed that there was a break in the inner (structural) core whilst the line sheath remained intact.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 27.07.2024	Pilot Male Age: 45 Rating: P Flying Experience: 12 years 350 hours (11 hours) 150 flights (5 flights)	Location Bassano, Lavarda, Italy Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Strong Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Flow Fusion Light Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot flew into a small landing area in thermic conditions and lost control of the paraglider in the final stage of flight. They noted that the paraglider felt "parachutal". They made two turns to lose height and experienced rapid descent to the ground where they sustained injury upon impact.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Feet, Legs
Date 20.07.2024	Pilot Male Age: 64 Rating: P Flying Experience: 17 years 292 hours (4 hours) 1371 flights (19 flights)	Location Newhaven Cliffs, Nehaven, East Sussex, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance Epsilon 9 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was ridge soaring in light conditions and caught the bottom their harness on the ground behind the cliff edge. The paraglider overflew the pilot who was dragged over the edge. The pilot came to rest on a shelf below the top of the cliff.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries

Last updated: 5 January 2025

Displaying page 3 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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