Incident Reports | Formal Investigations | Report incident | Safety

Incident Reports (Informal)

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).

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 422 entries for flexwing hang glider wings

Displaying page 5 out of 43

[ Top ] - [ Prev ] - [ Next ] - [ Bottom ]

Date

Pilot

Location

Wing Type

Summary

Injury

Incident Reports

Date
06.03.2022

(E21914)

Pilot
Male

Age:
58

Rating:
CP

Flying Experience:
9 years

80 hours
(7 hours)

110 flights
(13 flights)

Location
Parlick East Face,
Chipping,
UK

Wind Strength:
30-35 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Moderate Turbulence

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Avian
Rio 2

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Hang glider had near miss with paraglider pilot while soaring. Hang glider pilot was able to avoid the collision but was unable to discuss with the paraglider pilot, who had left the site. Paraglider pilot was not a club member.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
05.01.2022

(E21473)

Pilot
Male

Age:
27

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
13 years

555 hours
(100 hours)

500 flights
(50 flights)

Location
Cornborough,
UK

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:,
Moderate Turbulence

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Aeros
Combat

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot did not find expected lift after take-off and continued down bowl. Pilot got in to 'pilot induced oscillations' over cliffs resulting in a pirouette onto clifftop footpath. Glider came to rest against barbwire fence.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
21.10.2021

(E20845)

Pilot
Male

Age:
52

Rating:
CP

Flying Experience:
10 years

52 hours
(22 hours)

86 flights
(28 flights)

Location
Westbury white horse,
Westbury Wiltshire,
UK

Wind Strength:
15-20 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Light Turbulence

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Wills Wing
Falcon

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
Pilot took off with insufficient airspeed resulting in 180 degree turn back onto hill top. Landed on one wheel bending an upright.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
05.09.2021

(E20383)

Pilot
Male

Age:
65

Rating:
AP

Flying Experience:
47 years

1000 hours
(5 hours)

1500 flights
(5 flights)

Location
Pinacle Hill East,
Great Malvern,
UK

Wind Strength:
5-10 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate,
Light Turbulence

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Avian
Cheetah EVO 2

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
On approach to landing the pilot did not recognise the light wind conditions, nor did they appreciate the extent to which the field sloped away in the direction of landing. This resulted in a long, ground effect glide across the field. Pilot flared hard but crashed into boundary hedge.

Injury
Pilot:
Seriously Injured,

Hands, Arms, Shoulder

Date
28.06.2021

(E18935)

Pilot
Male

Age:
61

Rating:
AP

Flying Experience:
37 years

600 hours
(20 hours)

(30 flights)

Location
Dodd Fell,
Yorkshire Dales,
UK

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Moyes
RX

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
The pilot failed to clip in to the glider. This was spotted by a pilot bystander and corrected before take off.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
11.04.2021

(E17792)

Pilot
Male

Age:
54

Rating:
CP

Flying Experience:
29 years

30 hours
(1 hour)

318 flights
(6 flights)

Location
Harting Down,
South Harting,
UK

Wind Strength:
20-25 km/h

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Wills Wing
Sport 2

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
The pilot was assisted on launch by another pilot holding the nose wires. This assistant found that the nose wires became disconnected and came away in their hands. The launch was aborted. Upon inspection it was found that if the nose wires were held with one hand near the nose plate, the nose wire disconnection could be replicated.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
11.04.2021

(E17813)

Pilot
Male

Rating:
CP

Location
Harting Down,
West Sussex,
UK

Wind Strength:
25-30 km/h

Conditions:
Strong,
Moderate Turbulence

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Wills Wing
Eagle

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
The pilot stalled their their hang glider on launch and lost control, causing the glider to rotate into the hill.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
04.04.2021

(E17675)

Pilot
Male

Age:
74

Rating:
AP

Flying Experience:
45 years

1500 hours
(8 hours)

2000 flights
(6 flights)

Location
Long Mynd,
Shropshire,
UK

Wind Strength:
25-30 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate,
Moderate Turbulence

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Wills Wing
Sport 3

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
The pilot was making a top landing and took action to avoid collision with bystanders on the pilot's line of final approach, resulting in a dropped wingtip and subsequent heavy landing, which broke an upright.

Injury
Pilot:
Unhurt

Date
11.10.2020

(E16755)

Pilot
Male

Age:
60

Rating:
AP

Flying Experience:
37 years

500 hours
(10 hours)

500 flights
(15 flights)

Location
Longridge Fell,
UK

Wind Strength:
10-15 km/h

Conditions:
Moderate,
Moderate Turbulence,
Leeside

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Moyes
Litespeed RX

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
The pilot encountered turbulence when top landing behind the crest of the hill and lost control of the hang glider at low level. The corner of the base bar hit the ground and stopped dead whilst the pilot swung forward with momentum, injuring the pilot's wrist on the upright.

Injury
Pilot:
Minor Injuries,

Hands, Arms, Shoulder

Date
22.06.2020

(E15115)

Pilot
Male

Age:
59

Rating:
P

Flying Experience:
36 years

351 hours
(5 hours)

462 flights
(5 flights)

Location
Freathy,
Near Plymouth,
UK

Wind Strength:
15-20 km/h

Conditions:
Calm,
Not Turbulent

Wing Type
Flexwing Hang Glider

Wing:
Moyes
Lightsport

Launch Type:
Foot

Summary
The pilot set up his top landing approach too far back and was caught in rotor. This caused the aircraft to crash in the field behind take off.

Injury
Pilot:
Seriously Injured,

Head Injuries

Last updated: 27 January 2026

Displaying page 5 out of 43

[ Top ] - [ Prev ] - [ Next ] - [ Bottom ]

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.

The British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association is a member of

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