Does the FAA have written policy WRT landouts?

I have routinely called 911 after landing in a perfectly good airport that
was abandoned and locked. Most of the time they give me the code to the
gate and thats as far as it goes. A few times they send a rep (cop usually)
to open it. And only once (and I didn't even land yet) have the full
brigrade shown up including mercenaries to search , detain and harrass for
awhile till they got there adrenaline fill for the evening. It was pretty
amazing watching 6 ex marines standing around/over Rose with sub machines
guns like she might get away But that is another story

At 15:18 22 December 2011, T8 wrote:
On Dec 22, 9:17=A0am, John Cochrane
wrote:

It may be a good idea to call 911 immediately after landing out and
tell them that there is NO accident, no matter what their other phone
calls say.

John Cochrane

I had a friendly conversation with the 911 dispatch folks in NH (on
the 800 number I found on the website, not "'911"!) about this issue
after we received all sorts of unwanted "help" with a routine club
1-23 retrieve... including a medivac helicopter, fire trucks, police
cruisers, etc. etc. They did say we could feel free to call 911 as
you suggest. I don't know anyone who has actually done this. It's
hard to believe you could call 911 and *not* get a visit from someone
wearing a badge and a gun, but if it seems inevitable, it's probably
worth a try. The waste of expensive resources on a perfect, safe, no
damage to anything landout was something to behold.



-Evan Ludeman / T8

On Dec 22, 7:18*am, T8 wrote:
On Dec 22, 9:17*am, John Cochrane
wrote:



It may be a good idea to call 911 immediately after landing out and
tell them that there is NO accident, no matter what their other phone
calls say.

John Cochrane

I had a friendly conversation with the 911 dispatch folks in NH (on
the 800 number I found on the website, not "'911"!) about this issue
after we received all sorts of unwanted "help" with a routine club
1-23 retrieve... including a medivac helicopter, fire trucks, police
cruisers, etc. etc. *They did say we could feel free to call 911 as
you suggest. *I don't know anyone who has actually done this. *It's
hard to believe you could call 911 and *not* get a visit from someone
wearing a badge and a gun, but if it seems inevitable, it's probably
worth a try. *The waste of expensive resources on a perfect, safe, no
damage to anything landout was something to behold.

-Evan Ludeman / T8

Couple of years ago I landed in a field next to HWY 580 which is a
major hwy. The landout was easily visible form the road, so I figured
sooner or later someone will call 911. So I did exactly as John
suggested, called 911 and explained that there was no emergency, and
indeed no one showed up.
However I also know of a pilot who did not call 911, waited until the
police arrived, and talked them into giving him a ride back...

Ramy

For the last 4-5 years, the Cordele, Ga. contest management has
advised us to call 911 preemptively, to avoid the first-responder
nonsense.

Frank Paynter (TA)


On Dec 22, 9:17*am, John Cochrane
wrote:
my experience in 25 or 30 landouts with maybe 5 of them involving
local law enforcement is that they have not called the FAA before they
talk to me. *Even the one who was responding to the 911 call of a
plane crashing south of town came out to investigate the plane crash
first. *Thankfully I got him to call off the volunteer firefighter and
ambulance squad before they showed up. YMMV.

It may be a good idea to call 911 immediately after landing out and
tell them that there is NO accident, no matter what their other phone
calls say.

John Cochrane

In 1998 before a contest at TSA, Marvin Willis spoke to and got a
written follow up letter from the FSDO in Dallas stating that the FAA
does not consider an off-airport landing by a sailplane a reportable
incident if there is no damage to aircraft, property of another, or
injury to any person.

I have a PDF of this that I would be happy to share. Tried several
times to attach it, but to no success.

Email me off the thread and I will send you back the PDF. Have been
carrying the letter several years, not used it yet.

Kevin
192

On Dec 21, 8:29*pm, Larry Suter wrote:
A student landed out just short of our airport in our club's 1-26 last
Saturday. No damage, no injuries, glider readily returned to it's
tiedown.

Apparently, the airport manager told his bosses about it and they
chewed him out for not immediately reporting the landout to NTSB.

The story goes on longer but I'll spare the details and cut-to-the-
chase. Does the FAA have any written policy/advisory circulars on
landouts that don't involve damage or injury and whether or not
they're reportable to NTSB? (Presumably, they're not reportable). All
this must have been played out many times before at public airports
where there is gliding.

I'm really after written documentation of FAA policy, not opinion or
haranguing. Some of our club members appear to have tried the latter
with the net result of creating hard feelings.

Thanks,
Larry

I made a perfect landing in cut alfalfa alongside I-40. Five minutes
later I heard the sirens. Seems a gal had seen me while driving the
interstate and called 911 to report an awful aircraft accident! Half
the fuselage was missing and the wings were kind'a pointing forward!
At Susanville, I had a local mechanic run a block after spotting this
strange mass of parts near the end of the runway. Its tough flying a
Genesis!
JJ

At 04:29 22 December 2011, Larry Suter wrote:
Does the FAA have any written policy/advisory circulars on
landouts that don't involve damage or injury and whether or not
they're reportable to NTSB?

I believe that many years ago a 1-26 Association member managed to get a
position-statement letter from the FAA saying this is NOT an accident. It
might have been Harry Baldwin ? Copies may still be around - any leads ?

Ian