Landout Laws

Hi Chuck,
Been there, done that. I once had the gate to an oil rig, half disassembled
when a company man showed up. I quickly said, "If you'll unlock this gate, I'll
be glad to put it back together for you". It doesn't take a rocket scientest to
see who's going to win in your situation. It's his property and you are
trespassing.

A friend and I once started a final glide without sufficient altitude, he went
left around a knob and I went right. He didn't come out on the other side. Had
no time to worry about him as I had a developing problem of my own. Flew on
down this canyon and soon found myself at 80 knots and about 5 feet, over the
sagebrush. I knew Air Sailing was close, but I couldn't spot it (can't see to
far from 5 feet) Then I spotted a camper and figured it must be located at the
airport. Exchanged my 80 knots for about 100 feet and found myself lined up
with the cross-wind runway. I'll take luck over skill, any day.

What's this got to do with landing in a farmers field? My friend called in to
say he had landed in a pasture way up the canyon and would we bring lots of
help. We all went up there and found the farmer quite irate. He refused to
allow the trailer to come on his property. Made us carry the assembled glider
about a mile to the edge of his property. The guy was sending a message to us
folks at Air Sailing, "I live up here because I'm a hermit and I don't want any
GD gliders on my property". That's his right, we ARE trespassing. The same
farmer later held two pilots at gun-point for hours untill the Sheriff showed
up. We finally got the message.

Bolt cutters? That could be construed as burglary tools (I carry a hack saw,
less obvious) Hang in there, It'll be OK, but remember this next time.
JJ Sinclair