Most launch accidents are not freak events. The same few mistakes turn up year after year — an open leg strap, a knot nobody looked for, a wrong turn, a run that should have been stopped — and each has a simple habit that prevents it.
In the German federation’s long-term figures, about 15% of reported accidents happen during the launch itself, from inflation to lift-off, and another 15% in the departure just after1. In the BHPA’s review of 200 serious incidents from 2016–2018 (school incidents not included), about 15% involved errors while taking off23.
When to abort
Before your stop line the answer is simple: stop. After lift-off there is no aborting4. In between, if the wing fails while you are still firmly on your feet, stop as your instructor has drilled you: never take off with a wing that isn’t fully inflated and under control. In Swiss data for 2025, uncontrolled launch runs that were not aborted were the second commonest launch accident6.
How to abort safely
Aborting means stopping yourself and the wing while staying on your feet. Practise it on command and at the stop line until it is automatic. On a steep or windy launch, your instructor’s abort method takes precedence7.
Aborting a forward launch
Stop running and pull both brakes fully and smoothly, together, staying on your feet.
Cue The wing slows, goes quiet and sinks behind you as you come to a balanced stop.
Why A stalled wing stops pulling7; stumbles and falls cause many launch injuries8.
In a breeze, turn to face the wing and move towards it as it comes down.
Cue The lines go slack.
Why Facing it you control it; moving towards it takes its energy away7.
Keep it down until it lies still, then sort out the cause.
In a stronger breeze, a braked wing can still pull. Face it (before the turn in a reverse launch, you already do) and pull both
Figure: An abort done right: a tip caught in the lines at the check, so the pilot stops before the stop line, brakes and brings the wing down behind.
After an abort: start again
An abort isn’t finished when the wing is down. Sort out the cause, lay out again and run your whole pre-flight check from the first item12. Accident analyses describe the chain: an abort, changing conditions, a hurried or skipped second check, then a launch with an open leg strap or a knot13. Before a reverse launch, check your turn direction again14.
The classic launch accidents
Open leg straps
Unclosed harness buckles keep causing accidents: the DHV received four reports in a few months before July 2023, three after a distraction, and pilots have died falling out minutes after launching15.
Prevention is the pre-flight check: leg straps first, touch and tug every buckle, restart after any interruption. The last warning comes in the inflation: if the harness rides up your body, abort at once5. If that moment has passed, the DHV advises raising your arms and slipping out of the harness before lift-off, or, once airborne and hanging, steering sideways into the slope by weight shift and landing on it at once, accepting a hard landing17. That is emergency advice, not a drill.
Figure: Open leg straps: the harness slides up your body instead of lifting you by the seat. The moment it rides up is the moment to abort.
Not clipped in, or clipped in wrongly
The BHPA describes an experienced pilot whose wing took off and soared without them, because they had never clipped in15. Swiss reports list wrongly clipped-in risers among launch accidents8, and in 2024 a
Knots and tangles
In Swiss data for 2025, launching with knots or tangles was for the first time the leading cause of launch accidents; one pilot checked only the A-lines and brakes and missed a big tangle between the B- and C-lines20. A glance after a forward inflation usually can’t reveal a knot21; the line sort on the ground, riser to canopy, plus a look along the whole span, does20.
Crosswind launches
On the ground your wing behaves like a kite: it settles downwind of you, facing the wind, in the middle of the
Figure: Seen from above, wind from the top. Laid out down a slope the wind crosses at 60°, the wing comes up skewed, turns to face the wind and pulls the pilot off line and down the slope, into rotor off a spine. Variants: the abort, and a slope facing the wind. Not to scale.
Strong cycles
On thermic days the launch wind comes in
The wrong turn
Of the four deaths the DHV put down to launch accidents among German pilots in 2018–2022, three were recorded as turning the wrong way after a reverse inflation28; its 2024 data add two serious accidents, both on steep launches14. Taking off twisted is risky: the brakes are crossed or blocked, and pilots often pull the wrong one and turn towards the slope29. Say your turn every time: turned in to your left, right risers on top, turn right (the reverse launch).
Sitting down early
Jump back into the seat before the wing is flying and you drop; as it tries to fly, you scrape along the ground30. Keep running until clearly airborne, fly away from the slope, then sit back with both hands on the brakes31 (getting into the seat).
Launch or abort?
Before your stop line, anything in the right-hand column means abort.
| Go only if | Abort if |
|---|---|
| Buckles and connections were checked, undisturbed | The harness rides up, or you can’t remember a buckle |
| The wing is overhead, open, level, clean, steady | It is skewed, behind you, tangled or needs heavy brake |
| You are on your line, facing your launch direction | You have drifted off your line |
| The wind is steady, within limits, up the slope | A strong cycle, a crosswind or a gust arrives |
| The launch area and airspace are clear | Someone or something is in the way |
| You have no doubt | You have any doubt32 |
Common mistake Restarting from where you stopped
- Symptom
- After an abort you re-inflate straight away, skipping the check because you “did it already”.
- Cause
- Hurry, frustration and changing conditions.
- Fix
- Sort out the cause, then the whole check from the first item12.
Common mistake Bracing instead of moving
- Symptom
- You stop, dig in your heels and haul the brakes; the wing keeps flying and drags or lifts you.
- Cause
- Fighting the wing gives it something to pull against11.
- Fix
- Face it, pull the rear risers or one brake, and move towards it.
Instructor's note Practise stopping more than going
Stopping on command is the skill that keeps you in one piece7. Abort ten launches rather than push one bad one. On a steep launch the room to stop runs out quickly: past the line there may be no safe way to stop on your feet, so the decision has to come before it, and your instructor briefs each new site.
Standards differ Stopping and checking in the syllabus
Common ground: Every system trains you to stop the wing long before you need to, and checks your connections before each launch.
- USHPA (USA)
- A connection check before every inflation33. P2 pilots explain strong-wind landing procedures and how to keep from being dragged26.
- BHPA (UK)
- Turn direction is part of the pre-flight check34. Post-Club Pilot exercises include explaining emergency control of a wing that drags you, in winds over 19 km/h12 mph35.
- APPI (international)
- Open Sky students stop the wing on the instructor’s order7; Adventure students stop the launch on the stop line36.
- FAI/CIVL SafePro (international reference)
- Stop-line awareness and a decision before accelerating at Stage 337; being dragged in high-wind ground handling is a listed critical situation26.
Summarised from each body’s published material, which changes over time. Check the current official documents and follow your school.
Questions students ask
Everyone on launch is watching me. Won’t an abort look bad?
Spectators put real pressure on pilots; Swiss accident reports mention it38. But the DHV calls an abort good airmanship4, and experienced pilots watching agree.
I’ve aborted twice. Should I keep trying?
Maybe not. Repeated failed launches tire you39, and tired pilots make poorer decisions. Take a break and talk to your instructor.
What if I find a leg strap open after lift-off?
The DHV’s advice is to act at once — steer sideways into the slope by weight shift and land on it, accepting a hard landing17. Prevention is far better than this.
Key points
- Abort before the stop line if the wing is skewed, behind you, tangled or needs heavy brake, or if you are off your line or have any doubt.
- Abort: stop running and pull both brakes together, then face the wing and move towards it; in a breeze use the rear risers or one brake.
- After any abort, the whole check from the top, including the turn direction.
- Classic launch accidents: open leg straps, not clipped in, knots, crosswind, strong cycles, the wrong turn, sitting down early.
- After lift-off there is no aborting: fly the wing away from the slope.