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British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association

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 flexwing 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).

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 422 entries for flexwing hang glider wings

Displaying page 15 out of 43

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Date	Pilot	Location	Wing Type	Summary	Injury
Incident Reports

Date 09.10.2013 (E837)	Pilot Male Age: 40 Rating: P Flying Experience: 33 years 130 hours 450 flights	Location Woolacombe, Devon, UK Wind Strength: 25-30 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Wills Wing Sport 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary While testing the air the pilot unknowingly became close enough to a naval helicopter to experience turbulence from the rotors. The situation was discussed at club level and later at a meeting with the local squadron.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt

Date 01.09.2013 (E822)	Pilot Male Age: 26	Location Muggery, Sussex, UK Wind Strength: 0-5 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Airbourne Fun Launch Type: Foot	Summary Student hung onto top of control frame pulling glider down onto wheels and his knees.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Hands, Arms, Shoulder

Date 27.08.2013 (E816)	Pilot Male Age: 57 Rating: P Flying Experience: 41 years 178 hours 1280 flights	Location Monk's Down, UK Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Moderate Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Airbourne Sting Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot miscalculated wind and landed in tailwind on glider wheels. Grazed knees due to wearing shorts.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs

Date 10.08.2013 (E806)	Pilot Male Age: 32 Rating: P Flying Experience: 21 years 200 hours 400 flights	Location Long Mynd, Shropshire, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Wills Wing T2C Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot overcorrected final turn and set up oscillation he could not correct before landing Pilot landed heavily on the base bar.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Head Injuries

Date 10.08.2013 (E828)	Pilot Male Age: 38 Rating: AP Flying Experience: 32 years 336 hours 1500 flights	Location Ager, Spain Wind Strength: 5-10 km/h Conditions: Moderate, Light Turbulence	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Avian Evo 2 Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot landed then noticed his parachute had fallen out of the container. Suspects harness had pulled against the handle which had then become detached by a jolt on landing.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt

Date 09.08.2013 (E805)	Pilot Male Age: 40 Rating: P Flying Experience: 22 years 115 hours	Location Woolacombe, Devon, UK Wind Strength: 30-35 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: La Mouette Sphinx Bi Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot commenced take off run but one wing dropped and stalled as glider took off. Glider turned and landed in bushes.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs

Date 04.08.2013 (E798)	Pilot Male Age: 36 25 flights	Location Muggery Bottom, Sussex, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Airbourne Fun Launch Type: Foot	Summary Student was flying the glider too slowly and so it did not respond to pilot input. Student landed heavily spraining ankle.	Injury Pilot: Minor Injuries, Feet, Legs

Date 30.06.2013 (E792)	Pilot Male Age: 45 Rating: CP Flying Experience: 13 years 2 hours	Location Tehidy Barton, Cornwall, UK Wind Strength: 15-20 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Wills Wing Sport 2 Launch Type: Winch/vehicle Tow	Summary During tow launch pilot allowed glider to lift off too early. It then started to drift and the pilot did not correct the turn. Winch backed off and glider nosed in. Pilot did not let go resulting in broken arm.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Hands, Arms, Shoulder

Date 08.06.2013 (E769)	Pilot Male Age: 61 Rating: P Flying Experience: 35 years 500 hours	Location Mam Tor, Derbyshire, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions: Strong	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Avian Rio Launch Type: Foot	Summary During 'pre-flight' check the pilot noticed the nut had fallen off the bolt that holds the port side upper and lower wires. The nut could mort be found so the pilot could not fly.	Injury Pilot: Unhurt

Date 26.05.2013 (E757)	Pilot Male	Location Long Mynd, Shropshire, UK Wind Strength: 20-25 km/h Conditions:, Not Turbulent	Wing Type Flexwing Hang Glider Wing: Moyes Litespeed S Launch Type: Foot	Summary Pilot came in for top landing still in prone and on the base bar. Immediately prior to landing the hang glider wing struck the rear of a paraglider pilot who was packing his wing in the landing area. The hang glider crashed and the nose of the glider struck the pilot on the back of his neck.	Injury Pilot: Seriously Injured, Cervical Spine

Last updated: 27 January 2026

Displaying page 15 out of 43

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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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