Incidents and Injuries in Foot-Launched Flying Extreme Sports

BACKGROUND: Participation rates in extreme sports have grown exponentially in the last 40 yr, often surpassing traditional sporting activities. The purpose of this study was to examine injury rates in foot-launched flying sports, i.e., sports in which a pilot foot-launches into flight with a wing already deployed. METHODS: This paper is based on a retrospective analysis of the reports of incidents that occurred between 2000 and 2014 among the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association members. RESULTS: The majority of the 1411 reported injuries were in the lower limb, followed by the upper limb. The most common lower limb injury was to the ankle and included fractures, sprains, and dislocations. The distribution of injures was different in each discipline. The calculated yearly fatality rate (fatalities/100,000 participants) was 40.4 in hang gliding, 47.1 in paragliding, 61.9 in powered hang gliding and 83.4 in powered paragliding; the overall value for foot-launched flight sports was 43.9. DISCUSSION: Significant differences in injury rates and injury patterns were found among different sport disciplines that can be useful to steer research on safety, and adopt specific safety rules about flying, protective clothing and safety systems in each of these sports.