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 52 out of 246

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 27.08.2019	Pilot Female Age: 46 Rating: P	Location Panetonne, Monte grappa, Italy Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions:, Light Turbulence, Flight In Clouds, Fog	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: U-Turn Blacklight 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot became disoriented in thickening cloud and applied incorrect input causing glider to spin close to the terrain. Pilot deployed emergency parachute but was too low and impacted side of ravine.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Lumbar Spine
Date 26.08.2019	Pilot Male Age: 42 Rating: P Flying Experience: 18 years 1000 hours (40 hours)	Location Newhaven, Nehaven, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: BGD Dual Launch Type: Foot	Summary Passenger tripped on take off lost footing and pilot and passenger slid down the front of take off into a bush.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt Passenger: Minor Injuries
Date 26.08.2019	Pilot Female Age: 33 Flying Experience: 6 years 30 flights (30 flights)	Location Steyning Bowl, Steyning, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Gin Bolero 5 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot did not run fast enough on launch and did not damp the gliders acceleration causing an asymmetric collapse on launch. Pilot contacted the ground again, glider remained inflated and she took off unharmed and flew to the bottom.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt Passenger: Unhurt
Date 25.08.2019	Pilot Male Age: 28 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 9 years 28 hours (4 hours) 50 flights (6 flights)	Location Alkus, East Tyrol, the alps, Austria Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Alpha Alpha 5 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot took off but once clear of the trees was immediately hit by the valley wind blowing at 90 degrees to take-off. Pilot was blown sideways and attempted to turn with the wind to avoid the trees. Unfortunately a wing tip caught on a pine tree resulting in the pilot swinging into the tree.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 23.08.2019	Pilot Male Age: 30 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 13 years 43 hours (1 hour) 69 flights (3 flights)	Location Milk Hill White Horse, Alton Barnes, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Strong, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Nova ION 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot suffered a stall on approach to top land in breezy conditions. Pilot suspects encountering unusual gust while on the brakes caused stall. Pilot considered it a poor decision to land where he did.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 21.08.2019	Pilot Male Age: 57 Rating: P Flying Experience: 20 years 1050 hours (75 hours) 1000 flights (45 flights)	Location Milk Hill White horse, Pewsey, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Strong, Strong Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Advance Bi Beta 4 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Tandem pilot suffered symmetric collapse at 20m but both pilot and passenger landed gently on feet. Pilot and passenger were then dragged until pilot regained control.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt Passenger: Unhurt
Date 20.08.2019	Pilot Male Age: 67 Rating: P Flying Experience: 500 hours (25 hours) 1500 flights (40 flights)	Location Dunstable Downs, Dunstable, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Calm, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Skywalk Chili 3 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot encountered turbulence while ridge soaring, probably due to leeside rotor coming over a spur, and landed heavily.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 20.08.2019	Pilot Male Age: 49 Rating: P Flying Experience: 26 years 500 hours	Location Woolacombe, Woolacombe, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Very Strong Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Niviuk Peak 4 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot suffered asymmetric collapse and rotation when entering rough thermal at low level. Pilot struck ground as glider rotated. Pilot suspects being in the lee of higher ground was responsible for turbulence.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs
Date 14.08.2019	Pilot Male Age: 65 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 38 years 4500 hours (75 hours) (60 flights)	Location Pena Negra, Piedrahita, Spain Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions:, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: Phi Maestro	Summary As speed bar was applied the webbing of the mechanism which pulls the B riser down broke. Pilot released the speed bar and continued the flight without using it further.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 13.08.2019	Pilot Male Age: 25 Rating: P Flying Experience: 8 years 175 hours (50 hours) 200 flights (30 flights)	Location Westbury White Horse, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Very Strong, Moderate Turbulence, Flight In Clouds, Fog	Wing Type Paraglider Wing: 777 Queen 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot thermalled up in 'blue hole' thermal above the height of cloud base. Cloud then formed around pilot who tried to escape by flying downwind. The cloud became turbulent and the pilot attempted to spiral out of the cloud but without success. Pilot deployed parachute but maintained height within the cloud until eventually sinking out and landing in a tree. Pilot was rescued from the tree safely.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt

Last updated: 5 January 2025

Displaying page 52 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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