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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.

Paraglider parascending (Courtesy Pete Brunt)

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 2455 entries for paraglider wings

Displaying page 68 out of 246

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Date Pilot Location Wing Type Summary Injury
Incident Reports

Date
18.07.2018

Pilot
Male

Age:
50

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
13 years

160 hours
(50 hours)

290 flights
(20 flights)

Location
Milk Hill,
Pewsey, Wiltshire,
UK

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Light Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Skywalk
Spice

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot suffered asymmetric collapse and spin while trying to thermal tightly at low level. Pilot could not regain control before impacting the hill.

Injury
Pilot:
Minor Injuries,

Head Injuries

Date
16.07.2018

Pilot
Male

Location
Dunstable downs,
Dunstable,
UK

Wind Strength:
+45 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate,
Strong Turbulence,
Front Influence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Gin
Sprint

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot was caught out by sudden increase in wind strength due to frontal activity. Pilot was blown back over the hill and crashed heavily.

Injury
Pilot:
Seriously Injured

Date
15.07.2018

Pilot
Male

Rating:
CP

Flying Experience:
8 years

400 hours
(75 hours)

150 flights
(75 flights)

Location
Eype,
Bridport,
UK

Wind Strength:
5-10 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
BGD
Cure

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot collided with cliff face while ridge soaring.

Injury
Pilot:
Minor Injuries,

Hands, Arms, Shoulder

Date
15.07.2018

Pilot
Male

Age:
39

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
13 years

160 hours
(30 hours)

300 flights
(45 flights)

Location
Milk Hill,
Wiltshire,
UK

Wind Strength:
5-10 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate,
Moderate Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Advance
Epsilon 8

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot encountered strong turbulence while ridge soaring. Glider collapsed but pilot was able to recover and land safely.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
14.07.2018

Pilot
Male

Age:
40

Rating:
P

Location
Milk,
Wiltshire,
UK

Wind Strength:
15-20 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate,
Strong Turbulence,
Leeside

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Ozone
Rush 4

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot encountered turbulence while ridge soaring as wind was off to the south causing leeside turbulence. Pilot suffered frontal collapse and crashed onto the hillside.

Injury
Pilot:
Seriously Injured,

Feet, Legs

Date
14.07.2018

Pilot
Male

Age:
44

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
30 years

250 hours
(26 hours)

300 flights
(30 flights)

Location
Magic,
SE Wales,
UK

Wind Strength:
20-25 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate,
Light Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Niviuk
Artik 5

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Reverse launch take off in strong winds. Pilot was lifted off the ground whilst facing the glider. Unable to rotate to untwist the lines, brake input was ineffective. Glider turned slowly and impacted hill with some force.

Injury
Pilot:
Seriously Injured

Date
12.07.2018

Pilot
Male

Age:
40

Rating:
CP

Flying Experience:
10 years

2 hours
(1 hour)

24 flights
(11 flights)

Location
Pandy,
Pandy,
UK

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Advance
Alpha 6

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot had insufficient height to make official landing field and in an attempt to land in an adjacent field he caught the glider on a tree while on final approach. Pilot landed safely but glider landed on the tree.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
12.07.2018

Pilot
Male

Rating:
Unknown

Location
Weybourne,
Norfolk,
UK

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Light Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Gradient
Golden 2

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot spun glider while cliff soaring. Pilot impacted cliff halfway down and ended up on the beach below.

Injury
Pilot:
Seriously Injured,

Lumbar Spine

Date
12.07.2018

Pilot
Male

Age:
33

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
8 years

120 hours
(57 hours)

246 flights
(84 flights)

Location
Planpraz,
Chamonix,
France

Wind Strength:
0-5 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate,
Light Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Ozone
Rush 4

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot was flying along the valley side in thermic conditions and suffered an asymmetric collapse. The glider rapidly entered a spiral with twisted risers and the pilot blacked out. Pilot regained consciousness in time to deploy parachute landing 30m up in the trees. Pilot activated Echo112 App from phone and was rescued safely.

Injury
Pilot:
Minor Injuries,

Head Injuries

Date
12.07.2018

Pilot
Male

Age:
50

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
21 years


Location
St Agnes,
Cornwall,
UK

Wind Strength:
25-30 km/h

Conditions:,
Moderate Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Niviuk
Peak 3

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
On exiting a spiral in breezy conditions, pilot flew through own wake turbulence causing glider to enter a stall. Due to brakes being shortened by previous owner the glider would not recover from the stall.

Injury
Pilot:
Seriously Injured

Last updated: 5 January 2025

Displaying page 68 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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