In article
,
rlovinggood wrote:

Pete,

Since some of us are pretty "regulars" at off-field landings (Allez
aux vache...), I was thinking more of the legal aspect. Say you land
somewhere other than an airport and a law inforcement guy shows up, or
a private property land owner, and they are frowning. Might be good
to have a little ammo in the back pocket of "The Federal Government
not only approves of off-field landings, but encourages the training
of it as well..."

Add that ammo to the "Any port in a storm".

I did land once in hay field rented and cropped by a county sheriff
once. He was not happy. Not happy at all. Don't know if telling him
the Federal Government didn't mind would have made him smile. But
it's better than nothing.

Ray

Growing up in NorCalina (North Carolina, U.S. for northerners and other
foreigners) I know that crashing and dying is preferable to landing in
something as expensive as Tobacco. So, after landing out on one of the
suicide days at the recent U.S. Sports Nationals, it was with the utmost
horror I realized that I had landed in a very recently set tobacco
field. The landowner was not happy about it, either. That is, until
seeing my glider sitting in the field, he exclaimed "You didn't hit a
single plant"! After a few minutes conversation about 'bakker and other
agricultural topics (it helps to know the difference between burley and
bright leaf), we were hitting it off like old friends. I ended up
spending an enjoyable Saturday afternoon with a very lovely family.

The backstory to this outlanding is that I had found myself very low
over more-or-less unlandable ground and had to backtrack a few miles to
an area I had previously identified as having good landing sites.
Arriving at my choice of primary landing site at about 800 feet agl, I
was discomfited to find that an SZD-55 was sitting in the middle of it!
There was probably ample room for me to land there, but an alternate
field was just across the interstate and looked fine. Other than turning
out to be a tobacco field, it was great. Landing uphill, into the wind,
into freshly tilled earth makes for a gentle landing and short rollout.

WB