mattm wrote:

I have to add that I know of several landouts by friends last year.
The only two that resulted in damaged gliders were both at
airports marked on the charts (one was being redeveloped for
housing, and the other had not been mowed all summer).

Personally, a "landout" is a field landing, airports are maintained
runways usually intended for public use (though you can have private
airports), airstrip usually means a private grass or dirt strip that may
or may not be well maintained (but you can have public airstrips, like
state emergency fields). Based on my definitions, your friends did not
land at "airports" (the "port" part suggests to me that planes come and
go with some regularity and dependability), but might have qualified for
"landout" status from your description of the fields.

If you land at a towered airport with a 7000 foot long, 100 foot wide
runway, it is definitely NOT a landout! Call it a "landaway", say you
"didn't make it back", but save "landout" for when you have to be picked
out of a farmers field!

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
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