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British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association

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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.

Square parascending canopy (Courtesy Ann Underwood)

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 2497 entries for paraglider wings

Displaying page 209 out of 250

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Date Pilot Location Wing Type Summary Injury
Incident Reports

Date
05.09.2004

Pilot
Male

Age:
45

Rating:
P

Location
Plan Praz,
France

Wind Strength:
0-8 km/h

Conditions:
Thermic

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Advance
Epsilon 4

Launch Type:
Foot (Forward)

Summary
Pilot suffered asymmetric collapse due to turbulence and crashed into rocky cliffside.

Injury
Pilot:
Fatal.

Date
04.09.2004

Pilot
Male

Age:
27

Rating:
CP

Location
Mt Caburn,
UK

Wind Strength:
8-16 km/h

Conditions:
Thermic

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Airwave
Wave

Launch Type:
Foot (Forward)

Summary
Pilot encountered unexpected (though predictable) sink while ridge soaring. This resulted in a very fast slope landing attempt.

Injury
Pilot:
Fr tib and fib

Date
03.09.2004

Pilot
Male

Age:
36

Rating:
CP

Location
France

Wind Strength:
0-8 km/h

Conditions:
Variable

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Firebird
Matrix

Launch Type:
Foot (Forward)

Summary
Pilot failed to execute a good forward launch from a small technical take off area. Glider caught bushes and pilot crashed before taking off.

Injury
Pilot:
Fr ribs

Date
02.09.2004

Pilot
Male

Age:
57

Rating:
Novice

Location
Compton Bowl,
UK

Wind Strength:
8-16 km/h

Conditions:
Smooth/Steady

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Ozone
Atom

Launch Type:
Foot (Reverse)

Summary
Student flew into bush having misjudged landing approach.

Injury
Pilot:
Fr heal

Date
27.08.2004

Pilot
Male

Age:
53

Location
UK

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Ozone
Electron

Summary
Primary control pulley found to have failed (brake handle pulley). Pin dislodged and block missing.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
27.08.2004

Pilot
Female

Age:
35

Rating:
CP

Location
Montmin,
France

Wind Strength:
0-8 km/h

Conditions:
Thermic

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Advance
Alpha 3

Launch Type:
Foot (Forward)

Summary
Pilot had midair while thermalling. Poor lookout by both pilots.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
14.08.2004

Pilot
Male

Age:
53

Rating:
CP

Location
Brantside,
UK

Wind Strength:
16-24 km/h

Conditions:
Variable

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Advance
Epsilon 3

Launch Type:
Foot (Reverse)

Summary
Pilot inflated glider to feel the air and was lifted off his feet and thrown into a boulder, he was then dragged into a dry stone wall before being dragged through the wall which then fell on top of him!.

Injury
Pilot:
Dislo finger, bruising, back spasm

Date
14.08.2004

Pilot
Male

Age:
36

Rating:
Novice

Location
Ruddlers West,
UK

Wind Strength:
8-16 km/h

Conditions:
Smooth/Steady

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Up
Makalu

Launch Type:
Foot (Reverse)

Summary
Student failed to properly collapse glider after successful flight and landing. He was then dragged 20m by a gust of wind. Continued training for rest of day.

Injury
Pilot:
Scratches and bruising

Date
14.08.2004

Pilot
Male

Rating:
Novice

Location
Steyning Bowl,
UK

Wind Strength:
0-8 km/h

Conditions:
Smooth/Steady

Wing Type
Paraglider

Summary
Student bruised shoulder while attempting a PLF, though told only to watch and wait at this point.

Injury
Pilot:
Bruised shoulder

Date
10.08.2004

Pilot
Female

Age:
48

Rating:
CP

Location
Mere Rifle Range,
UK

Wind Strength:
16-24 km/h

Conditions:
Gusts

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Nova
Exact

Launch Type:
Foot (Reverse)

Summary
Pilot encountered turbulence and landed heavily wearing trainers and carrying ballast.

Injury
Pilot:
Fr foot

Last updated: 22 June 2025

Displaying page 209 out of 250

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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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