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 rigid hang glider 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 rigid hang glider wings

Displaying page 3 out of 4

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 23.04.2017	Pilot Male Age: 57 Rating: P Flying Experience: 35 years 350 hours (7 hours) 550 flights (11 flights)	Location Sibson, West Leicestershire, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Rigid Hang Glider Wing: AIR ATOS V	Summary Pilot put new wires on Atos V glider. Pilot felt glider was not right but could not find fault. Later pilot discovered the sheathing on the new wires on one side was bunched up. It appears the locating sleeve at the bottom of the uprights has not been crimped properly to the wire and has been sliding back and forth, being retained by the plastic sheathing on previous flights.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 16.07.2016	Pilot Male Age: 60 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 49 years	Location Ringstead, Dorset, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h	Wing Type Rigid Hang Glider Wing: AIR ATOS Launch Type: Foot	Summary Wind dropped on launch causing glider to drop in to long grass, which caught on base bar. Glider nosed in.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 06.06.2015	Pilot Male Age: 42 Rating: P Flying Experience: 29 years 200 hours 300 flights	Location Cambridge Aerotow, Sutton Meadows, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Rigid Hang Glider Wing: AIR Atos VQ Launch Type: Aero Tow	Summary Pilot suffered weak link failure at 20-30m. Pilot landed on feet in a stream.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 30.05.2015	Pilot Male Rating: Unknown	Location Frocester, Gloucestershire, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Rigid Hang Glider Wing: Wills Wing Solar Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot was seen to land downwind having made no attempt to turn into wind or remove his legs from his harness. Pilot was unconscious for 15 mins after incident.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Head Injuries
Date 10.05.2015	Pilot Male Age: 39 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 18 years (4 hours) (3 flights)	Location Newhaven Cliffs, Newhaven Cliffs, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions:, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Rigid Hang Glider Wing: Flight Design Ghostbuster Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot misjudged his approach due to concerns about the number of paragliders in the area. Pilot eventually made crosswind approach but with more downwind component than expected. Pilot attempted to run off speed but basebar struck the ground and the glider flipped over.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 29.12.2014	Pilot Male Age: 51 Rating: P Flying Experience: 50 years 600 hours (7 hours) 400 flights (7 flights)	Location Devils Dyke, Brighton, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Rigid Hang Glider Wing: Flight Design Exxtacy Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot took off with nose cone not fully fixed in position. This caused the glider to become very difficult to control as it wanted to pitch down. Pilot was able to make a controlled, but heavy, bottom landing.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Head Injuries
Date 09.11.2014	Pilot Male Age: 54 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 46 years 4000 hours (60 hours) 4000 flights (25 flights)	Location Ringstead, Ringstead bay, nr. weymouth, dorset, UK, UK	Wing Type Rigid Hang Glider Wing: AIR Atos vr Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pre-flight check revealed the outer sheath of the slider on the harness had worn away, and broken away, leaving just the inner cords exposed and supporting the hanging of the harness.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 24.06.2014	Pilot Male Age: 50 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 25 years 1200 hours (50 hours) 500 flights (18 flights)	Location Col de Forclaz, Annecy, France Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions: Strong, Strong Turbulence	Wing Type Rigid Hang Glider Wing: AIR VR10T Launch Type: Foot	Summary No details available	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 29.09.2013	Pilot Male Age: 56 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 32 years 2000 hours	Location Swanborough, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Rigid Hang Glider Wing: Aeros Phantom Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot was disturbed during rigging a number of times to help others. Forgot to attach inboard control wire. Pilot took off and realised he had no ability to turn left. Pilot attempted to land but lost all control and crashed doing approx 60mph.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 18.05.2013	Pilot Male Age: 50 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 29 years	Location Bell Hill, Dorset, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions: Strong	Wing Type Rigid Hang Glider Wing: AIR Atos VR Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot approached for top landing but had not gone far enough back. Elected to do big flare rather than overshoot resulting in glider climbing to 5m then diving into the ground.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured

Last updated: 15 May 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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