On Thursday, May 30, 2019 at 7:41:19 AM UTC-7, Dan Marotta wrote:
Describe your first land out and tell us if you had any specific prior
training for cross country flying or for landing in an unusual place.

As stated elsewhere, formal training for cross country flying and
landing out is sorely lacking in the USA.Â* Yes, there are a few places
where you can go to seek this type of training but, unless you live
there or nearby, you won't get it.

My story:

I owned a Mosquito and had an accomplished cross country pilot as a
friend and mentor.Â* He took me out surfing a cold front in central Texas
and opened my eyes to cross country flying.Â* Following that, there was a
local weekend contest at our club and I got a lot of good advice from
the contestants.

I don't recall the flight in which I had my first land out, but I do
recall the landing.Â* I found a beautiful green field and set up a
pattern to land and, on short final, it became apparent that it was a
vineyard!Â* Fortunately for me, there was a plowed field adjacent to the
vineyard and it was a simple maneuver to side step and complete the
landing across the furrows.Â* It was a bit rough and the field was sloped
upward in the direction of the landing so it was short due to the
slope.Â* There was no damage and the farmer, sitting on his tractor,
attached a rope to the release and towed me out of the field.

--
Dan, 5J

My first land out was on a dry lake, like most of my other land outs. I was flying out of Estrella, about 80 miles away got low and was stuck on a small ridge that was pumping a bit of up air. Beat back and forth hoping to trigger a thermal with all the buoyant air. Made a huge mistake, got bored after about 20 minutes and left the lift in search of other lift. I should have stayed were I was until I saw visible signs of lift. Ended up landing on a dry lake. After about an hour I was buzzed by and airplane I got on to 122.8 called him and after about ten minutes talked him into landing and picking me up. He was sure about landing on dry lake, but I told Edwards is used for the dry lake beds, that worked. Flew me back to airport were I grabbed car and another person to help. Went back to glider and a huge police presents, an aircraft crash had been reported. First and only time anyone has asked to see my pilot license. Three other times I have landed at airports other than the planned return and hooked a ride back to home to get car.