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 speedflyer/miniwing 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 36 entries for speedflyer/miniwing wings

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
Date 12.07.2020	Pilot Male Age: 50 Rating: CP	Location Le Plesney, Morzine, France Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions:, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Wing: Level Wings Flame Launch Type: Foot	Summary The pilot was on landing approach and clipped a tree on his downwind leg, impacting the ground.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 12.01.2020	Pilot Male Age: 44 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 6 years 10 hours (28 hours) 28 flights (28 flights)	Location Pen Dinas, Aberystwyth, UK Wind Strength: 30-35 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence, Front Influence	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Wing: Ozone Zero 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot was ridge soaring his speedwing set to fast trim when the wing suffered an asymmetric collapse. The wing rotated then reinflated facing the slope. Pilot impacted heavily into gorse.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs
Date 25.12.2019	Pilot Male Age: 28 Rating: P Flying Experience: 8 years	Location Bradwell, Bradwell, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Calm, Moderate Turbulence, Front Influence	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Wing: Air Design Susi 3 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot made a tight turn while ridge soaring then attempted a slope landing. Glider had not fully settled after the tight turn and was pitching while the pilot attempted to land. Pilot landed heavily.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries
Date 29.06.2019	Pilot Male Age: 33	Location Talybont SW, Talybont, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Wing: Ozone Firefly 3 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Student attempting first hops drifted across the slope and put out right hand to absorb impact. Student sprained wrist.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Hands, Arms, Shoulder
Date 15.12.2018	Pilot Male Age: 26 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 11 years 185 hours (3 hours) 3500 flights (100 flights)	Location Les Diablerets, Glacier 3000, Ormont-Dessus, Vaud, Switzerland Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Wing: Ozone Rapi-dos Launch Type: Foot	Summary Mini-wing pilot took off but hit ledge that was not visible from take-off. Wing collapsed and pilot fell 140m before coming to rest a further 100m down the snow slope.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 11.12.2018	Pilot Male Age: 42 Flying Experience: 7 years 8 flights	Location Mount Caburn, Glynde, East Sussex, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Wing: ASKA One Seven Launch Type: Foot	Summary Student clipped the top of a tree while on top to bottom flight and landed heavily.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Lumbar Spine
Date 27.10.2018	Pilot Male Age: 28 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 9 years 400 hours	Location Maiden Castle, Dorchester, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Calm, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Wing: Niviuk Zion Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot initiated 360 degree turn but without sufficient height to recover from the manoeuvre before impacting the slope. Pilot impacted the slope at speed.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 09.08.2018	Pilot Male	Location St Bees, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Wing: Little Cloud Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot impacted slope while on downwind beat.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Feet, Legs
Date 12.07.2018	Pilot Male Age: 30 Flying Experience: 7 years 17 flights	Location Talybont East, South Wales, Talybont, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Wing: Ozone Firefly 3 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Student on day 4 of speedflying course failed to turn into wind on final approach. Student crashed into trees but was unhurt.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 03.06.2017	Pilot Male Age: 38 Rating: P Flying Experience: 27 years	Location Buttermere Moss, Butteremere, Lake District, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Launch Type: Foot	Summary While flying a speed glider (Ozone Rapido 13) using a Gin Speedride harness the left side under arm plastic adjuster snapped mid barrell roll rapidly unloading the wing. The harness has a secondary strap which took the strain but the result was rapid weight shift to that side. The glider unloaded losing some pressure but did not collapse. Pilot was able to allow the wing to fly and landed safely.	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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