A PARAGLIDER was airlifted to hospital with life-threatening injuries after he crashed in a remote area of the Yorkshire Dales.

Police have launched an investigation into the accident which happened on an area known locally as Dodd Fell, between Hawes and Ribblehead, at 5.50pm on Saturday.

A member of the public alerted the emergency services and police from Leyburn and Richmond, an ambulance crew and an air ambulance from Cumbria were summoned.

The paraglider, who is believed to be a 50-year-old man, was airlifted to The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesborough, and his injuries are understood to include two broken legs.

Inspector Steve Burns, of North Yorkshire Police, said that the casualty would not be named until relatives had been informed.

It is not known whether the man is from the region or whether he was a member of a paragliding club.

A spokeswoman for Yorkshire Ambulance Service said a road ambulance on its way to the scene was stood down by the air ambulance because the vehicle could not reach the remote spot where the paraglider came down.

The site is close to Wether Fell, where a paraglider from West Yorkshire crashed and broke his pelvis in June. On the same day, a hang glider in his 30s suffered a broken leg when he collided with overhead power cables half a mile away from Wether Fell, at Howgate Edge, above Hawes.

Last month, a paraglider from Malton suffered spinal injuries when he crashed into a cliff at Saltburn, on the North Yorkshire coast, and had to be winched to safety from a ledge 200ft above rocks.

While in February 2006, a woman broke her leg when her paraglider crash landed near Bainbridge, four miles from Hawes.

No licence is needed to paraglide. The sport is governed by the Civil Aviation Authority and is self-regulated under the auspices of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Council.

Police and the air accident investigators are looking into the cause of the crash. Witnesses are urged to contact police on 0845-60-60-247.