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 2537 entries for paraglider wings

Displaying page 244 out of 254

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 17.03.2002	Pilot Male Age: 37 Rating: CP	Location Atherfield, UK Wind Strength: 24-32 km/h Conditions: Variable	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Airwave Alto Launch Type: Foot (Assisted)	Summary Following launch the pilot to a steeper cliff area in search of stronger lift. The air in this area was quite turbulent. As the pilot turned the glider it caught by a gust and the pilot impacted the cliff with his ankle. He flew to the beach to land.	Injury Pilot: Fr/dl ankle
Date 13.03.2002	Pilot Male Age: 24 Rating: Novice	Location Morroco, Morocco	Wing Type Paraglider	Summary No details available	Injury Pilot: Displaced vertebra. possible spinal injury
Date 26.02.2002	Pilot Male Age: 32 Rating: CP	Location Jama Tenerife, Spain Wind Strength: 8-16 km/h Conditions: Smooth/Steady	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Fiesta S Launch Type: Foot (Forward)	Summary Newly qualified pilot confused instructions to another pilot for his own - he turned left following launch into the hillside as he felt he might collide with a lorry driving up the road in front of launch.	Injury Pilot: Two fractured vertebrae
Date 24.02.2002	Pilot Male Age: 52 Rating: CP	Location Alicante, Spain	Wing Type Paraglider	Summary No details.	Injury Pilot: Fatal.
Date 17.02.2002	Pilot Male Age: 46 Rating: AP	Location West Firle, UK Wind Strength: 24-32 km/h	Wing Type Paraglider	Summary Tandem pilot seen to launch into very strong conditions. When landing he was dragged backwards through a barbed wire fence.	Injury Pilot: Cuts to face.
Date 12.02.2002	Pilot Male Age: 47 Rating: P	Location Sierra De Lujar, Spain Wind Strength: 8-16 km/h Conditions: Smooth/Steady	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Electron Launch Type: Foot (Forward)	Summary Following a 6000ft top to bottom flight the pilot failed to turn into wind whilst high enough - he therefore decided to land downwind at which point he noticed a 3ft high wall. With no time for alternative options he flew into the wall.	Injury Pilot: Compound fracture to femur (l). blood loss.
Date 13.01.2002	Pilot Male Age: 32 Rating: CP	Location Monte Carlo, Monaco Wind Strength: 0-8 km/h Conditions: Thermic	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Pro Design Effect 38 Launch Type: Foot (Forward)	Summary Whilst soaring in thermal lift two paragliders collided causing a tear to one of them. The pilot managed to land safely.	Injury Pilot: Shock.
Date 06.01.2002	Pilot Female Age: 45 Rating: CP	Location Mount Pleasant, Barbados Wind Strength: 16-24 km/h Conditions: Smooth/Steady	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Nova Axon Launch Type: Foot (Assisted)	Summary No details available	Injury Pilot: Fractured vertebra lower back.
Date 01.01.2002	Pilot Male Age: 39 Rating: CP	Location Chillerton, UK Wind Strength: 16-24 km/h Conditions: Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Independence Dragon Launch Type: Foot (Reverse)	Summary Whilst performing a 360 degree turn the pilot encountered sinking air resulting in a loss of altitude. The pilot clipped the hillside whilst exiting the turn.	Injury Pilot: Fractured vertabrae * 2, broken finger nail.
Date 29.12.2001	Pilot Male Age: 18	Location Hunstanton, UK Wind Strength: + 48 km/h Conditions: Gusts	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Apco Astra	Summary Instructor attempting to demonstrate hand towing in 30mph wind in front of hill Student held the tow line whilst the Instructr assited another student who was clipped into the harness / canopy. All three were dragged back.	Injury Unknown

Last updated: 12 September 2025

Displaying page 244 out of 254

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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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