Off Airport Landings

wrote:
If you want to report me to the nearest FAA
FSDO be my guest and I'll entertain them with my tales and how legal I
was at the time.

Report you for WHAT? Best I can tell, there is no requirement to even
LAND on a runway.

Dave

Dave
Easily falls under the "...dangerous and reckless..."

wrote:
Once again, I have more than 13,000 hours in the lowest reaches of the
airspace system in crop dusting, aka Ag Flying, and have made many off
airport landings.

Any tips for us, since you have the experience?

What are some of the things to consider if you are faced with the
heartpounding reality of an engine failure and an off airport
unscheduled landing?

Rarely heard tips:

Take off your headphones. If the plane stops quickly, they'll fly
forward off your head, ripping up your ears. Also, this prevents
strangulation from the cord.

Without losing control, move front seats back as far as safely
possible. People have been killed from a yoke in their chest, while
the other person (with seat further back) has survived.

Now I have a question: if you're over a forest, is it still considered
better to mush into the tree tops? Or dive into the thick of it as
best you can?

Kev

Kev wrote:

Now I have a question: if you're over a forest, is it still considered
better to mush into the tree tops? Or dive into the thick of it as
best you can?

The last time this came up, the best arguments I saw were to attempt a normal
landing in the treetops. Stalling the plane into the trees risks crippling or
death due to compression of the spinal column, and it requires much less
vertical force to kill you than it does horizontal force.

Of course, if your idea of a normal landing is to stall the aircraft just above
the runway, you shouldn't be doing a normal landing in the tree tops. You should
be coming in a few knots faster.

George Patterson
Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you quarrel with your neighbor.
It makes you shoot at your landlord. And it makes you miss him.

Kev wrote:


Rarely heard tips:

Take off your headphones. If the plane stops quickly, they'll fly
forward off your head, ripping up your ears. Also, this prevents
strangulation from the cord.

Bull****. Been there, done that. You'll never feel it and it won't
hurt later.

Now I have a question: if you're over a forest, is it still considered
better to mush into the tree tops? Or dive into the thick of it as
best you can?

Fly the plane all the way to the crash. Never stall.

Kev wrote:

Now I have a question: if you're over a forest, is it still considered
better to mush into the tree tops? Or dive into the thick of it as
best you can?

I'd try to stall or be very close to a stall just as the wheels began to
brush the leaves.

Matt

Matt
How can you tell how high you are or how tall the trees are? If you are
near stall speed, it doesn't take much to cause a full stall and you
are just a passenger waiting for the impact!
Lots of trees in the western regions that exceed 150' and thats a long
way to fall on your nose!
Once your wheels make any kind of contact with the tops of trees, it
will feel like you're being sucked right down into them with a rapid
deceleration and lots of noise as things start tearing off and bending.

wrote:

Matt
How can you tell how high you are or how tall the trees are? If you are
near stall speed, it doesn't take much to cause a full stall and you
are just a passenger waiting for the impact!

Yes, that is why we practice flight at minimum controllable airspeed.
You DO practice this regularly, right?


Lots of trees in the western regions that exceed 150' and thats a long
way to fall on your nose!

I live in PA, so our trees are generally shorter. The goal is to land
slowly enough that you don't tear off the wings and fall to the ground.
Even a fall from 50' has a high potential to be fatal or at least
cause very serious injuries. I want to get hung up in the treetops and
have them extract me with a cherry picker. :-)


Once your wheels make any kind of contact with the tops of trees, it
will feel like you're being sucked right down into them with a rapid
deceleration and lots of noise as things start tearing off and bending.

I've never done this, but I assume you are roughly correct on this
point. That is why I want to be going as slowly as possible when I make
contact. I want to have to lose as little energy as possible to get
stopped. Since energy is a function of the square of velocity, every
couple of knots slower that you are makes things much better.


Matt

Matt
As a matter of fact, I ofen demonstrate slow flight with ZERO
indicated airspeed and make turns while doing so. And, I show it to
students to let them see what is possible.
Having a problem in picking out the quoted areas so bear with me? "The
idea is to fly slowly so as to not tear off the wings and fall to the
ground"? Where else are you gonna fall, and how can you prevent damage
to the airplane like tearing off the wings? I fear you have the image
of the common picture of that airplane sitting in the top of a tree
like it was intended to land there? The reality of it is, you will
crash to the ground or very near it!
As for touching the tops of the trees, I have done it and am more than
roughly correct. I've also had the experiences, many many times of
having my wheels contact crops as I was spraying, and felt the instant
drag forces that suck you down. Certainly we want to be going as slowly
as possible prior to impact but it is much better to do it under
control rather than on the edge and lose control at the first
disruption of our flight attitude and/or.airspeed.
Did you see the clips of the clown in Louisiana doing his abortive
takeoff attempt and wrecking his airplane in the process? I have no
sympathy or empathy for his ineptitude and careless operations. It
happened so fast he had no time to make any corrections and his speed
wasn't high enough for pieces to be torn off. The end result was the
same though. A wrecked aircraft that crashed into trees with extensive
damage to the plane and the vehicle/s he hit enroute to the accident
scene.

On Thu, 03 Nov 2005 11:25:37 GMT, Matt Whiting
wrote:

I live in PA, so our trees are generally shorter. The goal is to land
slowly enough that you don't tear off the wings and fall to the ground.

I read somewhe "Picture an airport underneath you, and make the
best landing on it that you can." Sounded good to me, and easier to
remember than all that other stuff.

I'd picture it as a grass strip, too, not asphalt



-- all the best, Dan Ford

email: usenet AT danford DOT net

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net
In Search of Lost Time: www.readingproust.com