Incident Reports | Formal Investigations | Report incident | Safety

Incident Reports (Informal)

All incident reports submitted via the old pan Europe incident reporting system, that had been approved for publication prior to 21 January 2026, can be found below.

Incident reports submitted via the new FIDA pan Europe incident reporting system after 21 January 2026 that have been approved for publication can be found on our FIDA Incident reports page

Incident reports are available in summary form for the following wing types:

Incident reports for all wing types 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 3356 entries for all wing types

Displaying page 77 out of 336

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Date

Pilot

Location

Wing Type

Summary

Injury

Incident Reports

Date
20.08.2019

(E11948)

Pilot
Male

Age:
67

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
500 hours
(25 hours)

1500 flights
(40 flights)

Location
Dunstable Downs,
Dunstable,
UK

Wind Strength:
15-20 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Moderate Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Skywalk
Chili 3

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot encountered turbulence while ridge soaring, probably due to leeside rotor coming over a spur, and landed heavily.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
17.08.2019

(E12011)

Pilot
Male

Age:
70

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
50 years

900 hours
(20 hours)

1200 flights
(15 flights)

Location
Aberavon Dunes,
Port Talbot,
UK

Wind Strength:
25-30 km/h

Conditions:,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Aeros
Target

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot attempted to take off in breezy conditions on dunes but was immediately turned causing a heavy landing.

Injury
Pilot:
Seriously Injured,

Hands, Arms, Shoulder

Date
14.08.2019

(E12014)

Pilot
Male

Age:
65

Rating:
AP

Flying Experience:
39 years

4500 hours
(75 hours)

(60 flights)

Location
Pena Negra,
Piedrahita,
Spain

Wind Strength:
5-10 km/h

Conditions:,
Moderate Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Phi
Maestro

Summary
As speed bar was applied the webbing of the mechanism which pulls the B riser down broke. Pilot released the speed bar and continued the flight without using it further.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
13.08.2019

(E11861)

Pilot
Male

Age:
25

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
9 years

175 hours
(50 hours)

200 flights
(30 flights)

Location
Westbury White Horse,
UK

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:
Very Strong,
Moderate Turbulence,
Flight In Clouds, Fog

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
777
Queen 2

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot thermalled up in 'blue hole' thermal above the height of cloud base. Cloud then formed around pilot who tried to escape by flying downwind. The cloud became turbulent and the pilot attempted to spiral out of the cloud but without success. Pilot deployed parachute but maintained height within the cloud until eventually sinking out and landing in a tree. Pilot was rescued from the tree safely.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
12.08.2019

(E11777)

Pilot
Unknown
Location
Unknown

Wing Type
Other

Summary
Gin Verso airbag harness was in for routine parachute repack and packer noticed airbag in harness had split along an internal seam therefore allowing air to escape. Packer noted that this was a recurring problem with this type of harness.

Injury
Unknown


Date
08.08.2019

(E11774)

Pilot
Female

Rating:
AP

Flying Experience:
19 years

(70 hours)

Location
Golden Ball,
Pewsey,
UK

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Ozone
Alpina 3

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot encountered another pilot who was flying aggressively, erratically and close to other pilots.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
08.08.2019

(E11765)

Pilot
Male

Age:
27

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
10 years

650 hours
(69 hours)

3269 flights
(420 flights)

Location
Ballard,
Swanage,
UK

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:,
Light Turbulence

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
BGD
Cure

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot was attempting acro manoeuvres while coastal soaring and fell into left side riser, splitting the B's and C's. Pilot deployed parachute and landed in shoreline unhurt.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
04.08.2019

(E11680)

Pilot
Male

Age:
49

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
30 years

2000 hours

Location
Eype,
Bridport,
UK

Wind Strength:
15-20 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Advance
BiBeta 5

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot was approaching to land at coastal site when increased wind meant limited space to veer from chosen landing approach. As the pilot flared to land the bottom of the passenger harness struck the head of a person standing in the field.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Passenger:
Unhurt

Date
04.08.2019

(E11738)

Pilot
Male

Age:
51

Flying Experience:
9 years

125 hours
(33 hours)

400 flights
(80 flights)

Location
Newhaven Cliffs,
Newhaven,
UK

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Ozone
Rush 1

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot had an almost 'head-on' mid-air collision with another paraglider pilot while flying close to the ridge with the ridge on his right.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
03.08.2019

(E11668)

Pilot
Male

Age:
35

Rating:
CP

Flying Experience:
11 years

15 hours
(4 hours)

50 flights
(10 flights)

Location
Beachy head,
Eastbourne,
UK

Wind Strength:
15-20 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Paraglider

Wing:
Ozone
Mojo 2

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot turned into hill on approach, minor stall and spin with incorrect actions resulted in landing in hawthorn tree.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Last updated: 27 January 2026

Displaying page 77 out of 336

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A number of incident analysis reports are also available in the safety section of main portal, bhpa.co.uk. These are compiled from the individual incident reports submitted during the course of each year.

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The Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom The European Hang Gliding and Paragliding Union