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 powered hg 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 32 entries for powered hg wings

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 04.12.2024	Pilot Male Age: 66 Rating: P Flying Experience: 50 years 500 hours (13 hours) 1000 flights (9 flights)	Location Easterton, Elgin, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Calm, Strong Turbulence, Leeside	Wing Type Powered HG Wing: Grif 3DC Launch Type: Powered Engine: Grif, Snake	Summary The pilot attempted to land their wheeled undercarriage powered HG ("Sub 70") in conditions they described as cross wind and turbulent. The landing was fast with some lateral drift. The nose wheel sheared off resulting in rapid deceleration as the undercarriage tube (trike keel) dug into soft ground.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 14.09.2024	Pilot Male Age: 70 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 36 years 1000 hours (17 hours) 1500 flights (18 flights)	Location Northrepps Airfield, Norfolk, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence, Leeside	Wing Type Powered HG Wing: Aeros Adam 13-T Launch Type: Powered Engine: VITTORAZI, MOSTER 185 MY20	Summary The engine of the wheeled Sub 70 SPHG failed whilst on final approach. The aircraft encountered sinking air and the pilot opted to make an emergency landing in another field. The aircraft sustained damage on landing.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Pelvis
Date 16.12.2022	Pilot Male Age: 60 Rating: NPPL Flying Experience: 38 years 300 hours (6 hours) 400 flights (10 flights)	Location Chilbolton Airfield, Andover, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions:, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Powered HG Wing: Flylight Foxcub Launch Type: Powered Engine: Polini, Thor	Summary While taxiing back at the end of the flight, the pilot heard a 'thud, thud' from behind. The Foxcub SSDR has a disc brake to stop the propeller windmilling while thermalling. The bracket holding the disc brake housing had fractured and the housing had hit the prop and bent the disc rotor.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 09.08.2022	Pilot Male Age: 56 Rating: P Flying Experience: 34 years 2291 hours (50 hours) 3795 flights (88 flights)	Location Coal Aston Airfield, Chesterfield, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Powered HG Wing: Flylight Airsports PeaBee Launch Type: Powered Engine: Vittorazi, Moster 185 Silent	Summary While flying XC pilot heard a bang and felt the base bar move. Pilot landed and carried out an inspection. Pilot discovered breather tube had been sucked out into the airflow and had struck prop. Pilot made repairs and fixed breather tube with cable ties to prevent reoccurrence.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 18.07.2021	Pilot Male Age: 54 Rating: P Flying Experience: 34 years	Location Dee Estuary, Hoylake, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Powered HG Wing: Airplay Grif 3DC Launch Type: Powered Engine: Vittorazi, Moster	Summary The control frame was pulled in towards the pilot and rolled to the right during a taxi-ing manoeuvre. The propeller struck the rear wire, which was completely severed. The pilot ceased flight operations.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 24.02.2019	Pilot Male Age: 44 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 8 years 12 hours (1 hour) 140 flights (15 flights)	Location Darley Moor, Asbourne, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Powered HG Wing: Avian Fly Launch Type: Powered Engine: WASP, SP MK IV	Summary Pilot took off on powered hang glider but entered a slight turn when reaching across to mouth throttle to disengage the safety cut off. Glider remained in a gentle turn despite the efforts of the pilot who suspected the glider may have stalled. Pilot increased speed and decided to land immediately. Pilot was able to land with only minor damage to the glider.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 24.08.2016	Pilot Male Age: 61 Rating: P Flying Experience: 23 years 60 hours 50 flights	Location Homestead Farm, Near Guildford, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Powered HG Wing: Wills Wing Eagle Launch Type: Powered Engine: Flylight, Doodlebug	Summary Pilot took off and motor sounded rough. Pilot carried on but had trouble gaining height. Pilot found himself with few landing opportunities and was forced to land in a field, narrowly missing power lines. Pilot had not flown in 3 years.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs
Date 25.05.2016	Pilot Male Age: 42 Rating: P Flying Experience: 31 years 100 hours 120 flights	Location Open field, with informal consent, not registered,Cotmarsh, Broadtownsh,, Wiltshire, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Powered HG Wing: Avian Rio Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot did not carry out a proper pre-flight check and took off not directly into wind. Pilot then pushed out without correct airspeed resulting in a turn and stall. Pilot uninjured but prop damaged.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 02.03.2012	Pilot Male Age: 38 Rating: P Flying Experience: 13 years 7 hours (7 hours) 14 flights	Location Darley Moor, Derbyshire, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h	Wing Type Powered HG Wing: Offpiste Discovery Launch Type: Powered Engine: Wasp, Wasp	Summary While on a powered hang glider flight the battery for the power unit caught fire. The pilot made an emergency landing.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 24.07.2011	Pilot Male Age: 60 Rating: P	Location Bethel, UK Wind Strength: 0-11 km/h Conditions: Smooth/Steady	Wing Type Powered HG Wing: Airwave Magic 4 Launch Type: Powered Engine: Doodlebug	Summary Rear wire broke during aborted take-off.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt

Last updated: 5 January 2025

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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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