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 2493 entries for paraglider wings

Displaying page 6 out of 250

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 14.09.2024	Pilot Male Age: 34 Rating: P Flying Experience: 11 years 350 hours (35 hours) 200 flights (30 flights)	Location Draycott, Wells, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance Sigma 11 Launch Type: Foot	Summary After take-off, the pilot became aware that their harness pod would not close correctly and identified that an instrument tether line had tangled with a pod closure line, preventing the pod from closing. The pilot was able to correct the issue in flight.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 12.09.2024	Pilot Male Age: 67 Rating: P Flying Experience: 4 years 193 hours (65 hours) 155 flights (55 flights)	Location Worcester Beacon, Malvern, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Zoom X2C Launch Type: Foot	Summary Controlled airspace infringement. The pilot was formally debriefed after this incident, and reminded about the importance of observing airspace limits. The flight was excluded from all BHPA competition scoring.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 12.09.2024	Pilot Female Age: 61 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 4 years 66 hours (21 hours) 107 flights (33 flights)	Location West Lomond, Gateside, Fife, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions:, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Skywalk Mescal 4 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot lost control of their paraglider on launch and was lifted off their feet before touching down again. They were dragged across the ground and sustained an injury. They regained control of their wing and decided to fly down, landing without further incident.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Feet, Legs
Date 07.09.2024	Pilot Female Age: 24 Rating: P Flying Experience: 1000 hours (100 hours)	Location St Andre, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Photon Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot's helmet came unclipped in flight. The pilot reported that the helmet buckle had caught on a zip fastener whilst in a turn.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 03.09.2024	Pilot Male Age: 60 Rating: P Flying Experience: 10 years 500 hours (60 hours) 1000 flights (80 flights)	Location Le Chalvet, St Andre-Les-Alpes, France Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Photon Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was competing in the British & Dutch Open Paragliding Championships. During the flight they found themselves low in a heavily wooded valley and landed uneventfully on a dry riverbed.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 02.09.2024	Pilot Male Age: 57 Rating: P Flying Experience: 25 years 1000 hours (25 hours) 500 flights (10 flights)	Location Stol ridge, Slovenia Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Very Strong, Strong Turbulence, Thundery	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Ozone Delta 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot experienced a collapse of their paraglider in strong turbulence and successfully deployed their emergency parachute, landing in a tree.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 31.08.2024	Pilot Male Age: 50 Rating: P Flying Experience: 16 years 391 hours (8 hours) 495 flights (15 flights)	Location Tinto (South), Scotland, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Air Design Rise 4 Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot fell over on take off and sustained injury.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs
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

Last updated: 14 May 2025

Displaying page 6 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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