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#1
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Rough Field Landings
Here I am with the big stick again. I can't recall anyone discussing
rough area landings or hostile terrain landings in a long time. For example, forced to land (no matter the reason-you supply one) and you are headed into a corn field, or a rice paddy, or trees, or perhaps mountain slopes. Well lets take it to the swamps where you have both trees and water? Hmmmm, how about on city streets? Anyone ever paid much attention to the field surfaces as you drive along? Or the wires that cross streets and highways? Or traffic flows and bridge heights? These are all things that ag pilots look at almost unconciously and deal with on a regular basis. How about you? Sure it may never happen but statistics don't mean a thing when you are tagged, IT! With winter on us and snow on the ground, can you tell what is under that white mantle? Can you tell how deep it is? Are you prepared to stay warm until you can get out or until help arrives? What a bummer to make a good landing on a frozen lake and then freeze to death because you didn't have any warm gear with you. Like the two blondes who froze to death at the drive in when they went to see "Closed For The Winter". (sorry I couldn't help myself) I won't bore you with the places where I have had to land, or when I rescued people who had landed in nasty places. What I can do is share some of the information I learned from it. Now I'm gonna sit back and wait to see who is interested and wants to participate in an exchange of knowledge and ideas. Ol Shy & Bashful - The CFII with the big stirring stick |
#2
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wrote in message ups.com... Here I am with the big stick again. I can't recall anyone discussing rough area landings or hostile terrain landings in a long time. For example, forced to land (no matter the reason-you supply one) and you are headed into a corn field, or a rice paddy, or trees, or perhaps mountain slopes. Okay, I'll bite first. I'm over unsettled wilderness and there is an unbroken stand of 30 foot evergreens as far as the eye can see. I'm gonna have to put a C172 down into that. Tell me how to do it. Now, my uninformed personal opinion would be to flare as if I intended to land on the tree tops, and as I start to sink, pull up more than usual to try to mush into the trees in almost a tail stand. Is that possible? |
#3
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The nice thing about some kinds of evergreens is that they bend over to
let you down easy. Of course, when they spring back up, it makes it harder to see the downed aircraft except from above. Icebound wrote: I'm over unsettled wilderness and there is an unbroken stand of 30 foot evergreens as far as the eye can see. I'm gonna have to put a C172 down into that. Tell me how to do it. Now, my uninformed personal opinion would be to flare as if I intended to land on the tree tops, and as I start to sink, pull up more than usual to try to mush into the trees in almost a tail stand. Is that possible? |
#4
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I would be concerned about spinning it into ground in this scenerio. I
think it would be better to maintain you minimum approach speed and try to fly it between two trees so that the wings absorb most of the energy. Brian |
#5
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You'd have to weigh the risk of falling out of the trees against the risk of
fire created by the fuel spilling out of the wings. I guess the worst would be to be stuck in the trees, wings partially ripped off, and on fire. What ever your choice, minimum approach speed is the key. Jim "Brian" wrote in message oups.com... I would be concerned about spinning it into ground in this scenerio. I think it would be better to maintain you minimum approach speed and try to fly it between two trees so that the wings absorb most of the energy. Brian --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.799 / Virus Database: 543 - Release Date: 11/19/2004 |
#6
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Hello Icebound...
Well, do you know how tall the trees are? How big around are they? Are they on a slope? Every situation is different but its nice to have some kind of plan to work with. The fallacy of landing in the tops of trees (from personal experience) is the aircraft is probably very near stall speed. As soon as you touch a tree top the speed is very quickly dragged into the stall range and the aircraft will head down. In my case as a wing tip dragged across a tree top, the aircraft slewed abruptly and started nearly nose down before it slammed into a big Oak right on the nose. Then it settled nearly flat to the ground, or on top of the smaller trees that got compressed as we settled. (in a C-150 at night-1967) In many parts of the world, those trees can be 200' tall and if you stall out in the tops, you are headed for a hard fall. After seeing many crashes into the trees, and in discussions with pilots who have participated in the crash, or the rescue, most of us were in agreement that its better to aim for a point near the ground and let the inertia of the aircraft plow its way down and crash under control. even with light aircraft you can make a pretty good hole in the trees. Survival is pretty much a crap shoot in any event and I'm sure we all have seen some miraculous stories...at least I have, of surivors of unsurvivable crashes with no more than some bruises and lingering nightmares. I was part of a search for a pilot in the Amazon in the early 60's when he lost his engine about :05 out. We searched for him for two weeks and never saw a sign. He came stumbling out of the jungle on day 15 non the less for wear and tear. The trees there were at least 200' tall and dense undergrowth. He worked his way back by trying to follow the sounds of the occasional aircraft taking off. He had aimed for the base of the trees and when we went back to the crash site could see his crash path. From the air it was nearly impossible to spot. So, you take your chances and hope for the best. Ol Shy & Bashful |
#7
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Good point about difficult to find. I remember a glider crash into the
trees during a competition in the Pennslyvania appalacians. We were on the ground listening to the pilot try to direct overhead searching aircraft and on the ground walking searchers to where he was hung in the trees. Finally he had to get himself out and down and walk out. The bright white Glider was never seen from the air. Had to walk back in the next day to get it. Perhaps one of the more important tasks is making sure that ELT works. (not req'd in gliders) wrote in message ups.com... .. I was part of a search for a pilot in the Amazon in the early 60's when he lost his engine about :05 out. We searched for him for two weeks and never saw a sign. He came stumbling out of the jungle on day 15 non the less for wear and tear. The trees there were at least 200' tall and dense undergrowth. He worked his way back by trying to follow the sounds of the occasional aircraft taking off. He had aimed for the base of the trees and when we went back to the crash site could see his crash path. From the air it was nearly impossible to spot. So, you take your chances and hope for the best. Ol Shy & Bashful |
#8
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"Maule Driver" wrote in message m... Good point about difficult to find. I remember a glider crash into the trees during a competition in the Pennslyvania appalacians. We were on the ground listening to the pilot try to direct overhead searching aircraft and on the ground walking searchers to where he was hung in the trees. Finally he had to get himself out and down and walk out. The bright white Glider was never seen from the air. Had to walk back in the next day to get it. Perhaps one of the more important tasks is making sure that ELT works. (not req'd in gliders) Even a better reason to carry a GPS, even if it is a cheap land based handheld. -- Jim in NC |
#9
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Providing you can get a signal beneath the forest canopy.
Morgans wrote: Even a better reason to carry a GPS, even if it is a cheap land based handheld. |
#10
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