Paragliding Safety and Accidents:
X-Rays and Photographs of Paragliding Injuries

Presented to Promote Safety-Conscious Paragliding.
Safety Advice and Links to Safety Information follow the Photographs.

If you fly paragliders and are not highly safety-conscious then look carefully at these photographs. Make any of your paragliding friends who are not highly safety-conscious look at them also.

I dedicate this web page to all of my paragliding friends who have made this page possible, and to Bruce Tracy who so far is my only friend who has died paragliding. As a physician and as a paragliding aficionado, Bruce I think would appreciate this approach to promoting paragliding safety. —Brian Stipak

All injuries below occurred to current or past members of the Cascade Paragliding Club.

--WARNING: Some photographs below are graphic and may upset some people.--
( Click here to bypass the photographs and see just the safety information. )

Minor scrapes, cuts, and bruises:

Broken leg:

Broken leg after surgical repair:

Broken ankle:

Broken pelvis:

Broken pelvis after surgical repair:

Compression fracture of vertebrae:

Broken foot/ankle after surgical repair:

Broken arm, before and after surgical repair:

X-ray superimposed on elbow photograph to show positioning of hardware:

After surgery was re-done one year later because of unsatisfactory healing:

Broken femur (leg) after surgical repair:

After surgery was re-done one year later because of unsatisfactory healing:

Severe leg/foot injuries being treated in the hospital:

Broken leg:

These injuries were all to people I know, my paragliding friends. I present these photographs in the hope of promoting paragliding safety and lessening such future carnage.

My Advice about Paragliding Safety:

Obviously, these photographs dramatically show the potential danger of paragliding. Paradoxically, paragliding under mild conditions appears quite benign, and if done cautiously can be reasonably safe.

The beginner (P1) paraglider certification written exam asks a question about what factor most affects pilot safety, and the correct answer is pilot attitude. A cautious, safety-conscious pilot attitude greatly enhances safety.

Safety-conscious paraglider pilots should strive to exercise caution, carefully analyze conditions, and practice adroit paragliding technique. Unfortunately, many pilots are not good at all three. For example, one of the serious fractures shown above happened to a friend of mine who, although a gifted athlete, when paragliding neglected careful analysis and adopted an impetuous, aggressive attitude.

Safety-conscious paragliding requires sometimes not flying when less safety-conscious pilots are flying. Keep this adage in mind: "Launching is optional, but landing is mandatory." Also: "It is better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than in the air wishing you were on the ground."

Paragliding's appearance of safety and even serenity may lure pilots into complacency, plus the excitement of the sport can lead to risk-taking. The worst injuries depicted above occurred in foreign countries when the pilots were on vacation experiencing the excitement of flying in exotic locations. My own worst accident occurred when taking a risk on a cross-country flight in a foreign country.

New paraglider pilots' ignorance of past accidents hurts safety also. Such ignorance results from instructors not disclosing our accident history, pilots who have accidents hiding their accidents, and the practice (which I support) of hiding accident histories for specific paragliding sites to protect the use of those sites. I hope that this web page will increase some new pilots' awareness of risks and perhaps prevent an accident.

Although less important than pilot attitude, choosing safe equipment can also improve safety. Consider flying a glider with one of the highest safety ratings, DHV1 or DHV1-2. Even some DHV1 (the safest rating) paragliders today have the performance and handling to satisfy experienced pilots. Use a harness with good back protection—it may prevent a serious spinal injury. Side/hip protectors may help also.

To summarize the approach I am recommending to paragliding safely:

All pilots having any special risk factor, such as a proclivity for aggressiveness or for poor launches, must compensate with disciplined caution. If you have had several accidents, incidents, or injuries, then you are one of those pilots.

Pilots not highly safety-conscious are the type likely to make future photographic contributions to this web page. Sadly, I expect no shortage of new contributions.


Analysis of Past Paragliding Accidents, and Lessons Learned from those Accidents:

Further Paragliding Safety Advice and Information:


Paragliding Accident Statistics and Reports:

Page accesses since 1/26/2004: