SAFA Skysailor Magazine

38 SKY SAILOR June-July-August | WINTER 2026 The point is that we cannot bury our heads in the sand and ignore the risks involved in what we do. Our aircraft are incredibly sophisticated in their designs. They enable us to do things that are normally only accomplished by having a rigid fuselage and a substantial wingspan wrapped around us. That applies equally to our weight-shift microlight fleet as it does to hang gliders and paragliders. Equipment failure as a contributing factor to an accident is not something that we see on a regular basis. In the past year, there’s only been one accident where equipment failure caused the accident and that was when a soft-link detached from a B-line set on a mini-wing. The number one contributing factor to the incidents we see is the decisions that a pilot makes. Decisions to fly when the conditions are not right. Decisions to fly a wing that is beyond their ability. Decisions to attempt a launch in strong conditions without recent ground-handling experience. Decisions around your prox- imity to the ground, trees, other pilots and other obstructions The question I ask each of you is, “Are you prepared to improve your under- standing of the risks? If we consider the numbers of reports we have, based on the past eight years worth of data (keep in mind, the numbers for 2025/2026 are not yet final, they only include what we have received so far), on average we will end up with around 127 reports. Of those we would expect on average that 60 of us will be injured and three of us may die. Are you prepared?