"Nyal Williams" wrote in message
...
At 17:30 15 February 2004, Charles Petersen wrote:
There have been a lot of responses to my original post,
but very little
addressing the legalities.

I fly in central Indiana and we have had some landouts
in mostly farming country with few problems.

This could be an urban myth -- but it is possibly true;
I have heard that Indiana has a law on the books
that says it is illegal to land an airplane anywhere
except on an airport. Scuttlebutt was that the law
was enacted back when engines were not very reliable
and farmers kept getting crops destroyed.

The farmers have been mostly cooperative. I'm sure
that the FAA's distinction between an airplane and
a glider would not make any difference in a legal decision
in this state on this matter.

I suspect that most of the "problems" have been in areas with higher
population densities. In the vast, largely unpopulated, western USA, a lot
of the land is federal with ranchers leasing it to run cattle. That which
is in private hands is often operated by hired hands for the absentee
landowner. In some cases, the land is part of a railroad land grant dating
from the construction of the transcontinental railroad and farmed by leasee
who is in turn an absentee landlord. If approached by someone representing
himself as the landowner, try in a polite way to insure that this person is,
in fact, the landowner and not someone trying to grab a fast buck.

Most often, the glider is in the trailer and crew and pilot ready to depart
with no locals having made an appearance. In this case, the legal and
proper thing would probably to contact the local sheriff and report the
"emergency landing" and provide contact information along with the exact
Lat/long of the landing point although some would, no doubt, choose to
quietly depart.

In the few cases where I have had the pleasure of meeting the landowner, I
have been impressed by the hospitality. The only "problem" was a Nebraska
farm wife who wanted to delay our departure because, I suspect, she just
wanted someone to talk to since she didn't get to town all that often.

Bill Daniels