"Bruce Hoult" wrote in message
...
In article FIy6d.44971$He1.4592@attbi_s01,
"Bill Daniels" wrote:

"Bruce Hoult" wrote in message
...

Here in the North Island there's a lot of dairy farming. There are so
many paddocks (with an average size of about two football fields) that
are safe to land in that you don't need to know in advance which *one*
you'd use if you had to ... it's enough to know that you're within
glide
range (at half best L/D if you want though we seldom get that sort of
sink) of a farmed area. If one paddock doesn't look good then there
are
a dozen others right next to it.

That qualifies as 'known safe'.

In that case I put it to you that most if not all of the people who's
reactions surprised you probably took a different meaning from your
phrase "known safe" than you intended.

I think the above situation is good *enough*, and I expect most careful
glider pilots would too, but there is no way I'd describe it as "known
safe". It's very likely to be safe, but certainly not *known* in the
way that public airfield you've checked the NOTAMs for is "known safe".


There's a large paddock about 20 km from our glider field. It is nearly
100m wide and over 1000m long. I've landed out there several times and
in fact once a year or so our club takes students there for practising
landing over obstacles and circuits without familiar landmarks. But I
wouldn't describe even that as "known safe" unless I'd seen it
(preferably from the ground) very recently.

You could arrive at 500 or 1000 ft and find livestock on it, or very
long grass (e.g. shut up for hay), or temporary electric fences across
it.

Of course there are other good choices nearby, and you might choose to
land in the big one anyway even if there is a minor problem: certainly I
have landed at one end while cattle were grazing near the middle -- and
aerotowed out again after quietly shooing them right down to the far end
while waiting for the tow plane to arrive.

-- Bruce

Bruce, I think you're waffling but it's a good topic. If you have a good
knowledge of the farming practices of an area, there's an excellent chance
that a good field can be found when needed. I agree that there's a non-zero
chance of picking a bad field but the odds of success are very good.

I'm fortunate to fly on the western edge of North America's Great Plains
where there's a sharp transition from extremely landable prairie to high
mountains. To the west, even the valley floors are covered with rough sage
or cactus. To the east, vast wheat fields are landable most of the year.

Even though the plains are very landable, most long flights originating here
are flown over the mountains. There, knowing where you can land is vital.
If you have a database of 'known-safe' fields in your computer and marked on
the map, a mountain flight is much more relaxing and enjoyable.

I find that airstrips marked on the official maps are often unused and
overgrown with brush making them unusable. A visit to these strips on the
ground is the only way to insure they are landable. Just assuming a strip
is usable because it is shown on an aviation chart will lead to some nasty
surprises.

Today, most clubs have web sites. I wish all of them would create a page
with information and photos of landout sites in their area. A good example
is the Albuquerque Soaring Club in New Mexico. (www.abqsoaring.org) The
ASC is the number four ranking club in the world in OLC standing. I'm sure
that knowledge of good landing sites in their area contributed to their
excellent XC record.

Bill Daniels