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 37 entries for speedflyer/miniwing wings

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports
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
Date 20.06.2016	Pilot Male Age: 40 Rating: P Flying Experience: 14 years 100 hours (9 hours) 400 flights (4 flights)	Location Merthyr Tydfil, Merthyr Tydfil, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Wing: Swing Savage Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot made poor approach and was forced to take avoiding action to miss obstacles, resulting in a downwind landing in bracken.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Feet, Legs
Date 23.04.2016	Pilot Male	Location Lords Seat, Derbyshire, UK Wind Strength: 30-35 km/h Conditions: Strong, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Wing: Unknown Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot on speed wing got blown back in strong winds and crashed behind a wall where there would have been severe turbulence.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 17.04.2016	Pilot Male Age: 62 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 3000 hours (25 hours)	Location Bradwell Edge, Derbyshire, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions:, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot got jacket stuck in Charley Insider helmet buckle. Could not dislodge it until landing.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 21.01.2016	Pilot Male Age: 51 Rating: CP	Location Crete road west, Folkestone, UK Wind Strength: 30-35 km/h Conditions:, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Wing: Ozone Firefly2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot suffered large collapse and was unable to regain control of the glider. Pilot impacted slope heavily.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries
Date 12.10.2015	Pilot Male Age: 64 Rating: P Flying Experience: 18 years	Location Wolf Crag, Keswick, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions: Calm, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Wing: Ozone Zero Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot suffered asymmetric collapse while speedflying and was unable to recover in height available.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Lumbar Spine
Date 04.07.2015	Pilot Female Age: 28 Rating: Unqualified 5 flights (5 flights)	Location Mount Caburn, Lewes, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions: Calm, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Wing: Gin Gliders Bobcat Launch Type: Foot	Summary Student turned off line despite radio instructions from the instructor and landed landed heavily.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured
Date 11.03.2015	Pilot Male Age: 42 Flying Experience: 5 hours (5 hours) 150 flights (100 flights)	Location High & Over, Alfriston, UK Wind Strength: 10-15 km/h Conditions: Calm, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Wing: ASKA 17 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Student stepped heavily onto uneven ground while ground handling. Rolled up trousers against flying boots lead to leg fracture.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Feet, Legs
Date 27.01.2015	Pilot Male Age: 68 Rating: P	Location Long Mynd, Shropshire, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Calm, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot landed and noticed that one of his main carabiners was jammed open.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt
Date 14.09.2014	Pilot Male Age: 34 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 11 years 2 hours (2 hours) 20 flights (20 flights)	Location Ogwen valley, North Wales, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h	Wing Type Speedflyer/Miniwing Wing: Ozone Firefly Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot attempted to reverse launch without first clearing his control lines. Pilot was lifted up out of control and with twisted risers. Glider turned along ridge and dumped pilot into rocks.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Lumbar Spine

Last updated: 24 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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