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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 (Courtesy Grant Oseland)

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 96 out of 250

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Date Pilot Location Wing Type Summary Injury
Incident Reports

Date
02.04.2017

Pilot
Male

Age:
57

Flying Experience:
9 years

1 hour
(1 hour)

17 flights
(17 flights)

Location
Ditchling Beacon,
Brighton,
UK

Wind Strength:
0-5 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Pro Design
Accura

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Student practising low hop landed with outstretched legs despite being warned about this on previous flight.

Injury
Pilot:
Seriously Injured,

Feet, Legs

Date
02.04.2017

Pilot
Male

Age:
55

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
24 years

420 hours
(15 hours)

Location
Devil's Dyke,
UK

Wind Strength:
0-5 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Skywalk
Chili 4

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Soaring close to slope in light conditions. Pilot failed to have feet out of harness, slope landed too fast and caught right hand against grassy slope, breaking bone in wrist.

Injury
Pilot:
Seriously Injured,

Hands, Arms, Shoulder

Date
02.04.2017

Pilot
Male

Age:
62

Rating:
AP

Flying Experience:
38 years

3500 hours
(47 hours)

(52 flights)

Location
Bradwell Edge,
High Peak,
UK

Wind Strength:
5-10 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Advance
Iota

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot narrowly missed mid-air collision while ridge soaring. Hang glider coming from opposite direction suddenly began turning in a thermal without first clearing the space.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
01.04.2017

Pilot
Male

Age:
27

Rating:
Supervised IPPI-3

Flying Experience:
9 years

7 hours
(1 hour)

20 flights
(1 flight)

Location
Sopot chair lift launch,
Sopot,
Bulgaria

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate,
Moderate Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Advance
Epsilon 7

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot made error while attempting 'Big ears'. Pilot induced frontal collapse which recovered with a cravat which wound into a spiral dive. Pilot was able to deploy his parachute but could not pull in his glider. Pilot landed in small trees uninjured.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
28.03.2017

Pilot
Male

Age:
53

Rating:
CP

Flying Experience:
9 years

5 hours
(2 hours)

55 flights
(15 flights)

Location
Garmisch,
Garmisch,
Germany

Wind Strength:
5-10 km/h

Conditions:
Strong,
Moderate Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
UP
Makalu 3

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot was caught out by sink conditions and made emergency landing in tree.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
27.03.2017

Pilot
Male

Age:
62

Rating:
AP

Flying Experience:
33 years

2200 hours
(30 hours)

10000 flights
(100 flights)

Location
Megget,
Scottish Borders,
UK

Wind Strength:
5-10 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Nova
Mentor 4

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Evening soaring in light wind and weak thermals on steep grassy slope. Pilot misjudged distance from hill (possibly affected by strong low sun behind hill, with slope in deep shade ) and commenced 360 turn. Insufficient clearance to complete turn and impacted hill at a shallow angle.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
26.03.2017

Pilot
Male

Age:
50

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
20 years

150 hours
(15 hours)

300 flights
(19 flights)

Location
Matalascanas.,
Spain

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Advance
Sigma 8

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot turned into wind on top landing but used excessive control input and spun glider landing heavily.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
25.03.2017

Pilot
Male

Age:
47

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
20 years

500 hours
(1 hour)

1000 flights
(2 flights)

Location
Parlick,
Chipping, Lancs,
UK

Wind Strength:
0-5 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Ozone
Delta 2

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot attempted to top land as the wind had dropped off while he was ridge soaring. Pilot had insufficient height and collided with the hill.

Injury
Pilot:
Seriously Injured,

Feet, Legs

Date
13.03.2017

Pilot
Male

Age:
19

Rating:
CP

Flying Experience:
12 years

48 hours
(22 hours)

300 flights
(125 flights)

Location
Rybury,
Near Pewsey,
UK

Wind Strength:
20-25 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Light Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Ozone
Mojo1

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot launched with speed system twisted and applied 50%. Pilot was able to bottom land safely. Speedbar had come away from velcro holder.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
13.03.2017

Pilot
Male

Age:
44

Rating:
AP

Flying Experience:
36 years

900 hours
(15 hours)

(30 flights)

Location
Devils Dyke,
Brighton,
UK

Wind Strength:
15-20 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Light Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Advance
Omega 8

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot was ridge soaring when hang glider took off into his path. Pilot was boxed in by HG pilot, forcing him into turbulent area and narrowly avoiding a mid-air collision.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Last updated: 21 June 2025

Displaying page 96 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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