As for 'primacy' in this particular instance, I'd argue it little matters,
simply because OFLs rarely are 'instantaneously stressful' (the usual argument
advanced in defence of the law of primacy being applicable). Hence any
'properly prepared pilot' should have ample opportunity to think through
precisely what it is s/he hopes to accomplish as they are sinking toward a
possible OFL (or any other landing, for that matter). Anecdotally speaking, it
worked that way for me on my 1st OFL, even though it was a (dismaying!)
not-actively-planned/wanted event at that time. Stated another way, the stress
of an impending OFL is insufficient reason for *any* pilot to 'have to' revert
to laws of primacy as their 'excuse' controlling all that's about to happen.


Bob,

I'm glad you realized that 2-point approaches are the best way avoid
land out damage. Unfortunately, it appears a large portion of US
pilots disagree with you!

I appreciate your argument regarding primacy, but for most I'm not
sure it works like that. Regardless of how much time you have to
think about an off-field landing, they are still 'stressful' enough
that reversion to bad habits is highly likely to occur. Another point
would be bad things very rarely happen with the first bad decision.
Too much energy at touchdown is often a result of a pattern flown to
quickly. I can't count the number of times I've gone up with someone
who flew their pattern 5-8kts over best L/D speed in benign
conditions. When you ask why its because "its safer." This may be
"safe" but it I doubt it's "safer" at the time and it certainly won't
be "safer" when you are going into a 400ft field and a pattern speed 4
or 5 knots below L/D is called for. The benign conditions would have
been a perfect time to practice a minimum energy pattern - but then
again, they've never heard of that.

And, if we accept primacy does not occur to "nerves of steel"
attempting his first off field landing, I'd still preferred he has
lots of practice on low energy approaches followed by minimum energy
landings. Ultimately this is not an argument about 2-33's vs. K-21s,
but rather an argument about the pitiful state of glider training in
the US.

KJC