Try tiddly winks

Nearly all the problems you mention are mitigated by practice and planning.
Top xc pilots do 000's of k without landing in farmer's fields outside of
competition every year.

Even in comps they tend to land on airfields, especially in the UK where
there are plenty. Many now have engines and don't land out at all!

Practice and planning, or tiddly winks.



At 21:03 24 July 2014, John Howell wrote:

In the UK:
I would say for me lack of XC is due to:

Lack of any possibility for a retrieve crew and no, the fact that I have
recovered others from a field has no relevance whatsoever when trying to
find anyone to retrieve me....It's understandable - people really do have
other things to do in the evening rather than be called out to rescue
someone from a field....particularly if going to be a mega-difficult one
with added aggro' and difficult access, not to mention sitting in the
traffic jams just to get there.

Lack of suitable fields to land in - many either too small or with
standing
crop at certain times of the year. Makes you very nervous when looking
down. Some apparently OK fields can be very high risk with the
possibility
of overhead wires on the approach or even worse almost invisible barbed
wire fences in the middle of the field.

Abuse and aggro' when landing in a field. The worst was one where the
farm
manager was livid and almost foaming at the mouth. Then guess what -
another glider landed in the field seeing that mine had landed
safely...sort of.
The police ended up being called. I could really do without this sort of
thing while ?enjoying? a hobby.

Complex airspace as to where you can and can't go and at what altitude.
Pages of notams to be poured over for all the special last minute
modifications. (The good weather will always be inside restricted
airspace!)

Then there is the fact I always get lost, I'm ever scanning the skies for
the crazed RAF fast jet about to cut me in two....and who cannot possibly
see me

It is simply not worth the aggro.