List Of State laws Concerning Landing On Public Roads?

Mark Hansen wrote:


I don't have my book here at the moment, so I can't quote the
specific FARs, but I think they say you must have permission
before landing.

No, no FAR says anything of the sort. Where you land is not of concern
to the FAA.


Because all land is owned by someone (generally)
you cannot land anywhere without permission.

Generally true but this is almost always a local, not federal issue.

"Newps" wrote:

No, no FAR says anything of the sort. Where you land is not of
concern
to the FAA.


Indirectly, it can be of concern to the FAA, through the infamous
catchall of reckless operation. There are at least a couple NTSB
cases where a reckless charge was upheld against a helicopter pilot
for landing (nonemergency) in a place which posed a potential hazard
to people or property.

So where a State has a similar reckless operation law as most do, but
not a specific prohibition as to where one may not land, I see nothing
stopping them from charging and litigating the case under the same
line of reasoning if the circumstances support it. But if not
factually supportable, it should be OK, but with the caution that the
potential offense is generally a misdemeanor.

Fred F.

Matthew Walster wrote:

In the UK, it's only legal to land on a road at night, in an emergency, and
if there is absolutely no alternative that would end in the same or better
result... I'm suprised the US isn't the same...

Land of the free and home of the brave...especially if you land on a
country road at night. Buddy of mine did that in his Cessna 180, while
doing his 180 degree turn on the road he wiped out a mail box next to
the highway. Needed quite a bit of duct tape to get back home.

"Newps" wrote in message
...


Matthew Walster wrote:

In the UK, it's only legal to land on a road at night, in an emergency,
and if there is absolutely no alternative that would end in the same or
better result... I'm suprised the US isn't the same...

Land of the free and home of the brave...especially if you land on a
country road at night. Buddy of mine did that in his Cessna 180, while
doing his 180 degree turn on the road he wiped out a mail box next to the
highway. Needed quite a bit of duct tape to get back home.

Story this AM on NPR pilot tries to land on highway after lose of engine.
Lands instead on top of Tractor Trailer. Obviously stays up there for some
period of time then the plane falls off. The driver didn't know it happened
until later.

Gig

"NW_PILOT" wrote in message
news
Ok, this may sound like an odd question but here it goes is there a list
of
State laws Concerning Landing On Public Roads?

Basically, you are permitted to land anywhere you want unless it is
prohibited. It is not just Federal and state laws; there are many local laws
restricting where you can land an airplane.

The Seaplane Pilots Association maintains a list of areas where seaplanes
are prohibited, but I know of no such list of places where landings on roads
are prohibited.

And remember, you may never legally land on a US Highway or Interstate
in any state. Here in Montana you don't need to contact anybody in
advance of your landing although that's never a bad thing to do.



NW_PILOT wrote:

Ok, this may sound like an odd question but here it goes is there a list of
State laws Concerning Landing On Public Roads?

The only one i have found is for Montana:

The following is taken directly from the Montana Code; MCA 67-1-204 (3)
Lawfulness of Flight and Landings:

Aircraft landings and takeoffs from public roads in this state are lawful if
proper safety precautions, as approved by the governing jurisdiction of the
roads, are taken prior to the landing or takeoff, except as otherwise
provided in this section. However, the local governing jurisdiction may not
incur liability as a result of an approval under this subsection.

Wonder if AOPA has somthing burried in their site. I have sent an e-mail to
them.


"Newps" wrote in message
...
And remember, you may never legally land on a US Highway or Interstate
in any state. Here in Montana you don't need to contact anybody in
advance of your landing although that's never a bad thing to do.



NW_PILOT wrote:

Ok, this may sound like an odd question but here it goes is there a list
of
State laws Concerning Landing On Public Roads?

The only one i have found is for Montana:

The following is taken directly from the Montana Code; MCA 67-1-204 (3)
Lawfulness of Flight and Landings:

Aircraft landings and takeoffs from public roads in this state are
lawful if
proper safety precautions, as approved by the governing jurisdiction of
the
roads, are taken prior to the landing or takeoff, except as otherwise
provided in this section. However, the local governing jurisdiction may
not
incur liability as a result of an approval under this subsection.

NW_PILOT wrote:
Wonder if AOPA has somthing burried in their site. I have sent an e-mail to
them.

They might but you'd be a lot better off going to each states department
of transportation, or where ever their aviation people are.

"NW_PILOT" wrote in message
...
Wonder if AOPA has somthing burried in their site. I have sent an e-mail
to
them.

AOPA was not much help when asked the same question!

Response:

The landing of an airplane on anything other than a public use airport is at
the discretion of the owner of the land. Public roads are state owned. You
would have to check with the individual state highway commissions to states
you plan on traveling to. Unfortunately we do not have a list of states
that have provisions in their law for such activity.

If you have any further questions feel free to contact us at 1-800-872-2672.

Best Regards,

Nathan Rohrbaugh
Aviation Technical Specialist
Aviation Services Department
Fax 301-695-2375
www.aopa.org

On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 10:24:04 -0800, "NW_PILOT"
wrote:


"NW_PILOT" wrote in message
...
Wonder if AOPA has somthing burried in their site. I have sent an e-mail
to
them.

AOPA was not much help when asked the same question!

Response:

The landing of an airplane on anything other than a public use airport is at
the discretion of the owner of the land. Public roads are state owned. You
would have to check with the individual state highway commissions to states
you plan on traveling to. Unfortunately we do not have a list of states
that have provisions in their law for such activity.

This is not a complete answer and it is not completely correct...

Not all public roads are state, or federal roads. There are also
county roads which fall under county and possibly township, and
municipal laws. So, at least in Michigan you may land on a road way
out in the country with no problem. You taxi past a cross road to
take off and are ticketed as you just crossed into a county or
township that has a regulation against landing on the roads. OTOH
several times they have stopped traffic on the interstates so pilots
who had to land due to an emergency could take off. In other areas
the planes had to be trucked out. In one case the pilot said he
called airport to send out a truck, the authorities left, and he took
off with no one the wiser.

So, in many parts of the country you never know if it's legal to land
on the road or not, but it will be a local regulation unless a state
has a blanket rule against it.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com
If you have any further questions feel free to contact us at 1-800-872-2672.

Best Regards,

Nathan Rohrbaugh
Aviation Technical Specialist
Aviation Services Department
Fax 301-695-2375
www.aopa.org