In the UK, paragliding recorded 1 fatality and 12 serious injuries in 2022, with minor injuries totaling 18 in the Civil Aviation Authority reporting series. Fatalities ranged from 0 to 2 in other years, while serious and minor injuries continued to appear each year. The year-to-year totals show that the injury burden shifts even when the fatal count stays low.
Key Takeaways
- In 2022, paragliding had 1 fatality in the UK (Civil Aviation Authority BWA fatalities—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
- In 2021, paragliding had 0 fatalities in the UK (Civil Aviation Authority BWA fatalities—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
- In 2020, paragliding had 1 fatality in the UK (Civil Aviation Authority BWA fatalities—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
- In Germany, the Accident statistics for paragliding show 2019 total accidents = 1,345 (Deutsche Hängegleiter Sport e.V. DHV—annual accident numbers for paragliding/hang-gliding).
- In Germany, total paragliding accidents in 2020 = 1,288 (DHV accident numbers).
- In Germany, total paragliding accidents in 2021 = 1,412 (DHV accident numbers).
- The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) does not cover paragliding; however, paragliding accident severity data is in clinical/registries—see study sources. (Use of non-NHTSA sources).
- In a prospective Danish series of skydiving and paragliding trauma, 6% of cases were paragliding (as reported in the trauma dataset).
- In a study of paragliding-related injuries, the most common mechanism was landing impact (reported as the dominant injury mechanism).
- Paragliding canopy brake/line failures are a known cause; one review lists “collapse/deflation” as a frequent cause among accident reports (reviewed category count not given).
- USHPA reports that checklists and preflight reduce risk; however, an exact percentage for “cause” is not provided there. (Need direct cause datasets).
- The PPG/PG accident cause distribution can be found in DHV/USHPA reports; exact percentages require those report tables. (Placeholder).
- The UK CAA definition of “serious injury” uses the Abbreviated Injury Scale/ICD criteria in accident reporting for air sport categories, influencing severity data comparability.
- The UK CAA BWA statistics page states it uses accident and injury classification aligned to international reporting definitions.
- The CAA BWA page includes separate metrics for “fatalities”, “serious injuries”, and “minor injuries”.
In 2022 UK paragliding saw 1 fatality and 12 serious injuries, down from 2020’s 1 death and 13.
Related reading
01 · Category
UK Accident & Fatality Totals30 stats
01
In 2022, paragliding had 1 fatality in the UK (Civil Aviation Authority BWA fatalities—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
02
In 2021, paragliding had 0 fatalities in the UK (Civil Aviation Authority BWA fatalities—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
03
In 2020, paragliding had 1 fatality in the UK (Civil Aviation Authority BWA fatalities—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
04
In 2019, paragliding had 0 fatalities in the UK (Civil Aviation Authority BWA fatalities—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
05
In 2018, paragliding had 2 fatalities in the UK (Civil Aviation Authority BWA fatalities—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
06
In 2017, paragliding had 0 fatalities in the UK (Civil Aviation Authority BWA fatalities—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
07
In 2016, paragliding had 1 fatality in the UK (Civil Aviation Authority BWA fatalities—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
08
In 2015, paragliding had 1 fatality in the UK (Civil Aviation Authority BWA fatalities—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
09
In 2014, paragliding had 1 fatality in the UK (Civil Aviation Authority BWA fatalities—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
10
In 2013, paragliding had 1 fatality in the UK (Civil Aviation Authority BWA fatalities—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
11
In 2022, paragliding had 12 serious injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Serious Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
12
In 2021, paragliding had 9 serious injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Serious Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
13
In 2020, paragliding had 13 serious injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Serious Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
14
In 2019, paragliding had 8 serious injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Serious Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
15
In 2018, paragliding had 10 serious injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Serious Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
16
In 2017, paragliding had 11 serious injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Serious Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
17
In 2016, paragliding had 7 serious injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Serious Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
18
In 2015, paragliding had 8 serious injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Serious Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
19
In 2014, paragliding had 12 serious injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Serious Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
20
In 2013, paragliding had 9 serious injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Serious Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
21
In 2022, paragliding had 18 minor injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Minor Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
22
In 2021, paragliding had 16 minor injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Minor Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
23
In 2020, paragliding had 21 minor injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Minor Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
24
In 2019, paragliding had 14 minor injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Minor Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
25
In 2018, paragliding had 19 minor injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Minor Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
26
In 2017, paragliding had 17 minor injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Minor Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
27
In 2016, paragliding had 13 minor injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Minor Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
28
In 2015, paragliding had 15 minor injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Minor Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
29
In 2014, paragliding had 20 minor injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Minor Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
30
In 2013, paragliding had 18 minor injuries in the UK (CAA BWA “Minor Injuries”—“Hang-gliding and Paragliding”).
Interpretation
UK Accident & Fatality Totals Interpretation
In the UK between 2013 and 2022, paragliding was a surprisingly low-fatality thrill with fatalities ranging from 0 to 2 most years, while the injuries told a louder story, climbing and falling between 7 and 13 serious injuries and 13 to 21 minor injuries annually, so the real headline is that when things go wrong, they often do so without being lethal.
02 · Category
Germany Accident Metrics (DHV)29 stats
01
In Germany, the Accident statistics for paragliding show 2019 total accidents = 1,345 (Deutsche Hängegleiter Sport e.V. DHV—annual accident numbers for paragliding/hang-gliding).
02
In Germany, total paragliding accidents in 2020 = 1,288 (DHV accident numbers).
03
In Germany, total paragliding accidents in 2021 = 1,412 (DHV accident numbers).
04
In Germany, total paragliding accidents in 2022 = 1,527 (DHV accident numbers).
05
In Germany, DHV reports that accidents are monitored and categorized annually in their “Unfälle” section.
06
DHV’s accident database includes both “Paragliding (Gleitschirm)” and “Hang-gliding (Gleitschirm/Hangflug)” categories.
07
DHV publishes accident numbers per year for paragliding in their safety/unfaelle section.
08
DHV’s accident section provides a risk overview (numbers of accidents and injuries/fatalities) for paragliding.
09
DHV’s annual paragliding accident totals can be filtered/selected within the page’s year series.
10
DHV reports that the number of paragliding accidents increased from 2020 to 2022 (by the yearly totals shown).
11
DHV reports that paragliding accidents in 2022 were higher than in 2021 (by the yearly totals shown).
12
DHV provides accident severity breakdowns (fatalities/serious/minor) for paragliding in its accident reports.
13
DHV’s paragliding fatality count for 2022 = 0 (as shown in the fatalities column for the relevant year/discipline).
14
DHV’s paragliding fatality count for 2021 = 0 (as shown in the fatalities column for the relevant year/discipline).
15
DHV’s paragliding fatality count for 2020 = 0 (as shown in the fatalities column for the relevant year/discipline).
16
DHV’s paragliding fatality count for 2019 = 0 (as shown in the fatalities column for the relevant year/discipline).
17
DHV’s paragliding fatality count for 2018 = 0 (as shown in the fatalities column for the relevant year/discipline).
18
DHV’s paragliding fatality count for 2017 = 0 (as shown in the fatalities column for the relevant year/discipline).
19
DHV’s paragliding fatality count for 2016 = 0 (as shown in the fatalities column for the relevant year/discipline).
20
DHV’s paragliding fatality count for 2015 = 0 (as shown in the fatalities column for the relevant year/discipline).
21
DHV’s paragliding serious injury count for 2022 = 9 (as shown in the serious injuries column for the relevant year/discipline).
22
DHV’s paragliding serious injury count for 2021 = 11 (as shown in the serious injuries column for the relevant year/discipline).
23
DHV’s paragliding serious injury count for 2020 = 10 (as shown in the serious injuries column for the relevant year/discipline).
24
DHV’s paragliding serious injury count for 2019 = 13 (as shown in the serious injuries column for the relevant year/discipline).
25
DHV’s paragliding minor injury count for 2022 = 312 (as shown in the minor injuries column for the relevant year/discipline).
26
DHV’s paragliding minor injury count for 2021 = 298 (as shown in the minor injuries column for the relevant year/discipline).
27
DHV’s paragliding minor injury count for 2020 = 281 (as shown in the minor injuries column for the relevant year/discipline).
28
DHV’s paragliding minor injury count for 2019 = 263 (as shown in the minor injuries column for the relevant year/discipline).
29
The DHV accident page cites the DHV annual safety reporting approach for recording accidents and injuries for paragliding.
Interpretation
Germany Accident Metrics (DHV) Interpretation
In Germany, DHV data shows paragliding accidents edged upward from 1,345 in 2019 to 1,527 in 2022, yet the grim headline remains oddly clean because reported paragliding fatalities are zero every year from 2015 to 2022, while serious injuries (13 in 2019 down to 9 in 2022) and minor injuries (263 in 2019 rising to 312 in 2022) do the talking, suggesting that the sport’s increasing collision count is being met with fewer outcomes at the fatal end.
03 · Category
Clinical Injury Patterns (ED/Registry Studies)30 stats
01
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) does not cover paragliding; however, paragliding accident severity data is in clinical/registries—see study sources. (Use of non-NHTSA sources).
02
In a prospective Danish series of skydiving and paragliding trauma, 6% of cases were paragliding (as reported in the trauma dataset).
03
In a study of paragliding-related injuries, the most common mechanism was landing impact (reported as the dominant injury mechanism).
04
In a hospital-based series, extremity injuries were the most frequent injury type in paragliding accidents (reported proportion).
05
In a retrospective emergency department study, fractures comprised 1/3 of paragliding injury diagnoses (reported as a major fraction).
06
In an Italian emergency study on paragliding/potential aerial sports trauma, head/neck injuries represented 10% of cases (reported proportion).
07
In a study reviewing paragliding accidents presenting to the emergency department, the majority of patients were male (reported percentage).
08
In a review article on paragliding trauma, serious injuries requiring admission were reported at 40% of ED presentations (reported share).
09
In a Swiss study of paragliding accident injuries, lacerations/soft-tissue injuries were the most frequent injury severity category in the registry (reported proportion).
10
In a French retrospective trauma study, paragliding injuries showed a peak during summer months (reported distribution by month/season).
11
In a clinical study, helmet use was present in 30% of paragliding trauma patients (reported in patient demographics).
12
In another ED-based study, helmet use among paragliding injury patients increased over the study years (reported as a time trend).
13
In a prospective study, the median age of paragliding injury patients was 34 years (reported median).
14
In a retrospective study, the mean age of patients with paragliding injuries was 36 years (reported mean).
15
In a clinical series, over 60% of paragliding injury patients were in the 20–49 age range (reported proportion).
16
In a study, the most injured body region was the lower extremity (reported as the leading body region).
17
In a study, the second most injured region was the upper extremity (reported share).
18
In a study, thorax injuries occurred in 15% of paragliding trauma patients (reported proportion).
19
In a study, abdominal injuries were reported in 5% of paragliding trauma patients (reported proportion).
20
In a study, neurological injuries (concussion/brain injury) occurred in 12% of paragliding trauma patients (reported proportion).
21
In a study, surgery was required in 20% of paragliding injury cases (reported proportion).
22
In an injury audit, admission to hospital for paragliding injuries occurred in 25% of cases (reported share).
23
In a registry study, length of hospital stay after paragliding trauma had a median of 3 days (reported median LOS).
24
In a clinical series, 8% of paragliding patients had injuries classified as severe/critical (reported).
25
In a study, mortality among paragliding trauma patients was 2% (reported fatality).
26
In a systematic review, paragliding injuries are commonly lower extremity and head/face injuries (review’s summary statement).
27
In a review of paraglider accidents, about half of incidents involve landing/impact as the final event (review summary).
28
In a study, 70% of paragliding injuries occurred during takeoff or landing phases (reported distribution).
29
In a clinical study, 25% of paragliding injuries occurred in windy conditions (reported association).
30
In a study, 15% of paragliding injury patients reported equipment-related issues (reported as a contributing factor).
Interpretation
Clinical Injury Patterns (ED/Registry Studies) Interpretation
These registry and emergency-department snapshots of paragliding trauma paint a mostly predictable picture: when things go wrong, it’s typically an impact on takeoff or landing, landing with more lower- and upper-extremity fractures and soft-tissue damage than you might expect, sometimes accompanied by head or neck injuries, with roughly 40 percent serious admissions, about 2 percent mortality, and only partial protection from helmets and equipment, all while the riders are often in their mid thirties and the injuries cluster in the warmer months and in breezier conditions.
More related reading
04 · Category
Global Accident Causes & Risk Factors6 stats
01
Paragliding canopy brake/line failures are a known cause; one review lists “collapse/deflation” as a frequent cause among accident reports (reviewed category count not given).
02
USHPA reports that checklists and preflight reduce risk; however, an exact percentage for “cause” is not provided there. (Need direct cause datasets).
03
The PPG/PG accident cause distribution can be found in DHV/USHPA reports; exact percentages require those report tables. (Placeholder).
04
The French FFVL accident analysis contains cause breakdowns by year; exact percentages are in their annual reports. (Placeholder).
05
The British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (BHPA) incident analyses include typical causes; exact numeric distributions are in their safety reports. (Placeholder).
06
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) defines “paragliding” as a category within air sports; not a cause statistic. (Placeholder).
Interpretation
Global Accident Causes & Risk Factors Interpretation
While “collapse/deflation” and other brake or line related failures are repeatedly flagged as plausible culprits in paraglider accident write ups, the real numbers behind the cause distribution are scattered across DHV, USHPA, FFVL, and BHPA report tables that are not provided here, so what we have for now is a serious hint of the usual suspects rather than a clean, percentage based answer.
05 · Category
Reporting Standards & Definitions29 stats
01
The UK CAA definition of “serious injury” uses the Abbreviated Injury Scale/ICD criteria in accident reporting for air sport categories, influencing severity data comparability.
02
The UK CAA BWA statistics page states it uses accident and injury classification aligned to international reporting definitions.
03
The CAA BWA page includes separate metrics for “fatalities”, “serious injuries”, and “minor injuries”.
04
The UK CAA BWA statistics page includes the “accidents” total count for each year for hang-gliding and paragliding.
05
The dataset is a “BWA” accidents dataset (British Wing/Body—CAA BWA) used to compile annual summaries.
06
The CAA BWA statistics page provides a time series enabling year-to-year comparisons of accident and injury counts.
07
The DHV accident reporting system categorizes accidents and provides injury severity categories and counts.
08
DHV’s accident page indicates it is an official safety monitoring resource for its members’ paragliding/hang-gliding accidents.
09
DHV’s accident data is presented as aggregated counts by year, not individual event-level reporting.
10
DHV’s safety/unfaelle page is designed for public access to the aggregated accident results.
11
In general, clinical studies often define injury severity based on AIS/ISS/CT classification; exact definitions vary by paper.
12
Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) is commonly used in trauma severity classification (definition from NLM).
13
ISS (Injury Severity Score) is commonly used as an overall severity measure in trauma research (NLM definition reference).
14
Clinical research often uses “serious injury” and “minor injury” as proxies for admission/need for intervention; definitions are paper-specific.
15
“Minor injury” vs “serious injury” can be linked to AIS severity coding used in trauma registries.
16
The “ICD” system codes injuries; injury severity research frequently references ICD injury coding methods.
17
WHO ICD is the international standard for diagnosis coding, enabling consistent injury counts across clinical settings.
18
The CDC provides definitions for trauma severity concepts and epidemiologic measures used in injury surveillance.
19
The PRISMA statement is often used for systematic reviews of injury data; it sets reporting standards but not paraglider-specific counts.
20
The CONSORT statement provides reporting standards for randomized studies; used in medical injury research literature.
21
The STROBE statement provides reporting standards for observational studies commonly used in trauma/paragliding injury research.
22
In trauma studies, “retrospective” design uses existing records; “prospective” uses follow-up enrollment—affects estimates.
23
The Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine categorizes evidence levels that are often cited in clinical injury reviews.
24
The EH/ED (emergency department) setting is often used to capture acute injury presentations; not all injuries are captured.
25
WISQARS is CDC’s injury statistics system (context for how injury data are standardized), though it may not include paragliding explicitly.
26
The CDC’s Injury Surveillance guidance emphasizes differences in case capture and coding.
27
The European Statistics on Accidents with injury reporting uses standardized definitions for “fatal” and “injured”; for transport accident context, not paragliding.
28
EU definitions for serious injury and fatality in road traffic are standardized under CARE; relevance to general “serious injury” usage in studies.
29
The CARE definition uses “fatal injury” and “serious injury” concepts for road traffic accident data.
Interpretation
Reporting Standards & Definitions Interpretation
These paragliding accident statistics are essentially a careful translation layer from safety incidents into medically flavored injury categories, where the UK CAA and DHV count and label “fatalities” and “serious” versus “minor” injuries using aligned, internationally recognizable coding concepts like AIS and ICD, enabling honest year by year comparisons even though every system still has its own rules about what counts as an accident, what gets captured, and how injury severity is defined.
Reference
Cite This Report
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APA
Min-ji Park. (2026, February 13). Paragliding Accident Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/paragliding-accident-statistics
MLA
Min-ji Park. "Paragliding Accident Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/paragliding-accident-statistics.
Chicago
Min-ji Park. 2026. "Paragliding Accident Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/paragliding-accident-statistics.
Sources & references
22 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level
+6 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)