Cost of Crop damage from glider landing in farmer's field?

On Monday, September 17, 2012 10:28:18 AM UTC-5, wrote:
I have landed in 8 farmer's fields over my 18 years of soaring in and around Utah and have always been met by the farmers and their families with great enthusiasm and interest in the beautiful ship from the sky that landed in their field...But not all farmers are always sober or appreciate the lines of a sailplane... We are uninvited guests who may have just run down some of their crop. I received an interestingly threatening comment on one of my outlanding videos ( http://youtu.be/oJgSL4X6L-Y ) from a farmer who saw the video and started talking about things he would like to do to me if it were his field. It brings up the question of what is the actual monetary loss of crop (let's stick with hay or alfalfa for the Utah region) if a glider lands in their field? A glider landing in a field will flatten 6 inches (main tire width) by around 300 feet of crop. Let's take wheat in this case. That is 150 square feet of flattened wheat or a 10'x15' area. This does not take into account the damage from walking around the field and retrieving the glider but I am assuming the glider would be walked out of the field by the gate that we landed near. Yes, I cut it too close on this video and should have left more room from the fences. The retrieve was very easy thought. Have any ideas or tips with dealing with angry farmers who don't see the beauty in soaring? Also, what does the law say about our right to land on their private property? We could either land there or crash there - the glider is coming down either way. Can they legally confiscate our glider? Demand ransom or a landing fee? How do you deal with a ****ed off farmer holding a shotgun? Thanks for any stories or insights, Bruno - B4

I have 7 field landings this season. Either I'm doing something right or Bruno's doing something wrong

Luckily in my 40 or so off field landings i've never landed in actual crops.. Hay and Alfalfa fields have always been mowed, other fields have either been pre-planting or post-harvest. We're blessed around here by summer solstice with lots of cut wheat fields and the further west the more bare dirt fields.

its not illegal to land there, but we are responsible for any damages caused by the landing or retrieval. my general format when meeting new farmers is to introduce myself, thank them, and then apologize. If I had to land in crops it would be a major apology for damage done, let them know I will pay for damages, and then ask for suggestions on the least damaging way to remove the glider. Most damage is done getting the glider in the trailer, not during the landing.

One thing we have to be careful of here is driving out into wheat stubble fields. With hot exhaust and dry conditions its a real fire hazard. My last landout the county sheriff deputy and I talked to the little old lady who let us use her tractor to pull the glider up to the house.

If no landowner is to be found I generally just try to be as careful as possible while minimizing any impact to the land. A "leave no trace" landout is the goal. If crop damage was involved then some post flight effort would have to be put into finding the farmer.

As far as dollar amount I guess it pays to pay attention to average crop yields and prices in your area. If I thought they were trying to take advantage of me or if the dollar amount was really high I would probably just suggest that we get some pictures of the damage and make a claim to my insurance.

As far as the farmer with the shotgun I suppose we all would do whatever we thought was best in the situation, and preferably something that would allow us to live to soar another day.

On Sep 17, 12:21Â*pm, Tony wrote:
On Monday, September 17, 2012 10:28:18 AM UTC-5, wrote:
I have landed in 8 farmer's fields over my 18 years of soaring in and around Utah and have always been met by the farmers and their families with great enthusiasm and interest in the beautiful ship from the sky that landed in their field...But not all farmers are always sober or appreciate the lines of a sailplane... We are uninvited guests who may have just run down some of their crop. I received an interestingly threatening comment on one of my outlanding videos (http://youtu.be/oJgSL4X6L-Y) from a farmer who saw the video and started talking about things he would like to do to me if it were his field. It brings up the question of what is the actual monetary loss of crop (let's stick with hay or alfalfa for the Utah region) if a glider lands in their field? A glider landing in a field will flatten 6 inches (main tire width) by around 300 feet of crop. Let's take wheat in this case. That is 150 square feet of flattened wheat or a 10'x15' area. This does not take into account the damage from walking around the field and retrieving the glider but I am assuming the glider would be walked out of the field by the gate that we landed near. Yes, I cut it too close on this video and should have left more room from the fences. The retrieve was very easy thought. Have any ideas or tips with dealing with angry farmers who don't see the beauty in soaring? Also, what does the law say about our right to land on their private property? We could either land there or crash there - the glider is coming down either way. Can they legally confiscate our glider? Demand ransom or a landing fee? How do you deal with a ****ed off farmer holding a shotgun? Thanks for any stories or insights, Bruno - B4

I have 7 field landings this season. Either I'm doing something right or Bruno's doing something wrong

Luckily in my 40 or so off field landings i've never landed in actual crops. Hay and Alfalfa fields have always been mowed, other fields have either been pre-planting or post-harvest. We're blessed around here by summer solstice with lots of cut wheat fields and the further west the more bare dirt fields.

its not illegal to land there, but we are responsible for any damages caused by the landing or retrieval. my general format when meeting new farmers is to introduce myself, thank them, and then apologize. If I had to land in crops it would be a major apology for damage done, let them know I will pay for damages, and then ask for suggestions on the least damaging way to remove the glider. Most damage is done getting the glider in the trailer, not during the landing.

One thing we have to be careful of here is driving out into wheat stubble fields. With hot exhaust and dry conditions its a real fire hazard. My last landout the county sheriff deputy and I talked to the little old lady who let us use her tractor to pull the glider up to the house.

If no landowner is to be found I generally just try to be as careful as possible while minimizing any impact to the land. A "leave no trace" landout is the goal. If crop damage was involved then some post flight effort would have to be put into finding the farmer.

As far as dollar amount I guess it pays to pay attention to average crop yields and prices in your area. If I thought they were trying to take advantage of me or if the dollar amount was really high I would probably just suggest that we get some pictures of the damage and make a claim to my insurance.

As far as the farmer with the shotgun I suppose we all would do whatever we thought was best in the situation, and preferably something that would allow us to live to soar another day.

Open up your discussion with the field owner by thanking him for
providing the perfect landing area that saved your sorry ass and that
you are sorry to intrude. Don't ever mention the crop damage and
discuss at length with him that you will very carefully walk the
glider out of the field minimizing any further damage. The thoughtful
farmer may even suggest that he will get his tractor or pickup and
pull you out of the field. Also inquire as to how the trailer and tow
vehicle should best approach the glider, do NOT make that decision on
your own.
As far as the monetary value of the crop is concerned, the farmer who
feels he is owed something will set the price (I never payed a dime in
33 years). Unless he is asking for hundreds of $'s, pay him and ask
your insurance to send a check.

March 1979 Soaring has an article about the bad side of landing out.

Feb. 1982 Page 21 has a good short article dealing with some basic legalities.