Landing out on a corporate mega-farm or other non-traditional ornon-optimal place?

In article ,
son_of_flubber wrote:

All of the land out stories that I've heard are about landing out on small
family farms and the advice is always along the lines of, be friendly, let
the farmer's kids sit in the glider etc...

Any stories about landing out in places other than on a small farm? Dealing
with corporate security, corporate legal departments, bills for grossly
inflated damages, pesticides, etc..

My favorite landout story involves a wetland, and quick while the EPA is not
looking, a Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer. It is not my story, so I will not try
to retell it, but maybe you get the picture of what I am looking for.

Hi 92, tell your story of landing the 1-26 in the gold mine.

Actually have a couple of relevant stories about mega farms.

Avenal is about 30 miles North of Paramount Farms production facility. Paramount is one of the largest pistachio and almond producers in the country I believe.

They have a beautiful 4000ft or so paved strip in a highly strategic location for getting home or getting away to the south. One early March day, emboldened by clouds I pressed on despite only about 2500agl clouds. Everything was going fine until getting flushed by some westerly marine flow. Unable to get away, I had to land Paramount.

A couple of security guards show up and start taking my contact info. They were cool and didn't really quite know what to make of a situation. Then another car comes racing out. Security again, but this looks like a manager. She hops out of the car and starts telling the guys "No, no no, they're fine, they're corporate."

I look at my buddy (we were in my Duo) and decide to see where this goes. She tells the guy that we are from the office and it's ok and just about apologizes to us. Then looks at the plane. Looks at us. Back at the Duo and the fact that it looks nothing like a King Air. Lightbulb goes on and she asks if I'm from corporate. I opted to tell the truth. She was cool, we had a good laugh and I showed everyone the glider and talked about how we ended up there. A few minutes later the towplane arrived, I gave them my contact info and even got a security guard to run our wing as we towed out.

Positive experience all in all. Better than the other massive farm with a strip that I landed at with an angry cowboy caretaker that likes to brandish a pistol while telling you to get off. That airstrip is listed as "Hostile" in the DB, but it's still not too bad for the occasional landout. They just won't let us aerotow out of there.

A few months after my landout at Paramount we held our spring contest. It was a tough day and our turn area went near Paramount. We stuck 5 or 6 gliders on their strip that day and I think most aero-retrieved out of there.

Later that night I got an email from a manager at Paramount. He is a pilot and understands that they have a nice runway and we might need to use it in an "emergency" and that was OK, but we couldn't aero-retrieve.

It was a very polite email, didn't kick us off the airstrip. I followed up my response with a couple of contest t-shirts and two gift certificates for demo flights at the club for him or an employee. A few weeks went by and I got an email from his employee that got the certificates. He ended up enjoying a demo flight and joining our club.

Now I make sure to send them a note prior to our contest letting them know we'll be in the area and to let their visitors know we will have higher than usual glider traffic in the area. We continue to have a good relationship with them despite a record 8 gliders landing there last year.

The main upside to corporate farms is that you've got a very high probability of running into someone that isn't highly motivated to being a jerk. Around the central Valley of California, there are a lot of Duster strips and they are generally pretty friendly.

Last weekend we had a few pilots land out at a nearby farm. The owner/manager was cool with the gliders and even aerotowing out. I'll probably send a t-shirt and a demo flight offer over. It's cheap insurance to keep a positive image going.

Morgan




On Sunday, May 5, 2013 6:59:33 AM UTC-7, son_of_flubber wrote:
All of the land out stories that I've heard are about landing out on small family farms and the advice is always along the lines of, be friendly, let the farmer's kids sit in the glider etc...



Any stories about landing out in places other than on a small farm? Dealing with corporate security, corporate legal departments, bills for grossly inflated damages, pesticides, etc..



My favorite landout story involves a wetland, and quick while the EPA is not looking, a Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer. It is not my story, so I will not try to retell it, but maybe you get the picture of what I am looking for.

On May 7, 10:57*pm, Morgan wrote:
Actually have a couple of relevant stories about mega farms.

Avenal is about 30 miles North of Paramount Farms production facility. *Paramount is one of the largest pistachio and almond producers in the country I believe.

They have a beautiful 4000ft or so paved strip in a highly strategic location for getting home or getting away to the south. *One early March day, emboldened by clouds I pressed on despite only about 2500agl clouds. *Everything was going fine until getting flushed by some westerly marine flow. *Unable to get away, I had to land Paramount.

A couple of security guards show up and start taking my contact info. *They were cool and didn't really quite know what to make of a situation. *Then another car comes racing out. *Security again, but this looks like a manager. She hops out of the car and starts telling the guys "No, no no, they're fine, they're corporate."

I look at my buddy (we were in my Duo) and decide to see where this goes. *She tells the guy that we are from the office and it's ok and just about apologizes to us. *Then looks at the plane. Looks at us. *Back at the Duo and the fact that it looks nothing like a King Air. *Lightbulb goes on and she asks if I'm from corporate. *I opted to tell the truth. *She was cool, we had a good laugh and I showed everyone the glider and talked about how we ended up there. *A few minutes later the towplane arrived, I gave them my contact info and even got a security guard to run our wing as we towed out.

Positive experience all in all. *Better than the other massive farm with a strip that I landed at with an angry cowboy caretaker that likes to brandish a pistol while telling you to get off. *That airstrip is listed as "Hostile" in the DB, but it's still not too bad for the occasional landout. *They just won't let us aerotow out of there.

A few months after my landout at Paramount we held our spring contest. *It was a tough day and our turn area went near Paramount. *We stuck 5 or 6 gliders on their strip that day and I think most aero-retrieved out of there.

Later that night I got an email from a manager at Paramount. *He is a pilot and understands that they have a nice runway and we might need to use it in an "emergency" and that was OK, but we couldn't aero-retrieve.

It was a very polite email, didn't kick us off the airstrip. *I followed up my response with a couple of contest t-shirts and two gift certificates for demo flights at the club for him or an employee. *A few weeks went by and I got an email from his employee that got the certificates. *He ended up enjoying a demo flight and joining our club.

Now I make sure to send them a note prior to our contest letting them know we'll be in the area and to let their visitors know we will have higher than usual glider traffic in the area. *We continue to have a good relationship with them despite a record 8 gliders landing there last year.

The main upside to corporate farms is that you've got a very high probability of running into someone that isn't highly motivated to being a jerk. *Around the central Valley of California, there are a lot of Duster strips and they are generally pretty friendly.

Last weekend we had a few pilots land out at a nearby farm. *The owner/manager was cool with the gliders and even aerotowing out. *I'll probably send a t-shirt and a demo flight offer over. *It's cheap insurance to keep a positive image going.

Morgan







On Sunday, May 5, 2013 6:59:33 AM UTC-7, son_of_flubber wrote:
All of the land out stories that I've heard are about landing out on small family farms and the advice is always along the lines of, be friendly, let the farmer's kids sit in the glider etc...

Any stories about landing out in places other than on a small farm? *Dealing with corporate security, corporate legal departments, bills for grossly inflated damages, pesticides, etc..

My favorite landout story involves a wetland, and quick while the EPA is not looking, a Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer. *It is not my story, so I will not try to retell it, but maybe you get the picture of what I am looking for.


Back in the 70’s, during a regional contest in Arizona I was one of 8
or 10 pilots who had landed out during a torrential downburst at a CIA
base ( all the planes
and helicopters where in the hangars, all where painted black). The
crews on the field were very helpful tieing down our gliders in the
downpour. They then herded us into an office to decide what to with
us.

About this time my wife, Maria, the first of the crews coming after
us, had arrived at the main gate and asked permission to come on the
field. The armed guard stated that it would be impossible, and that
we where not on the there any way. Maria realized that the only way
she was going to get him to make a call was to begin to cry. It
worked.

I was never worried about getting off the field because one of our
pilots in our group was the head of Transportation for the State of
Arizona. He never once mentioned who he was. I knew if things got out
of hand he would have come forward, plus Maria was at the gate.

When all the other crews started arriving they agreed the best thing
was to let them all on the field and have us out of there as fast as
possible. It was an interesting day.

On May 8, 10:58*am, Mario wrote:
Back in the 70’s, during a regional contest in Arizona I was one of 8
or 10 pilots who had landed out during a torrential downburst at a CIA
base ( all the planes
and helicopters where in the hangars, all where painted black). *The
crews on the field were very helpful tieing down our gliders in the
downpour. *They then herded us into an office to decide what to with
us.

There is also "Base Camp", a pristine 8000 ft long tarmac runway about
30 miles to the east of Tonopah, allegedly owned by the Dept of Energy
and administered by the Tonopah Test Range, not on the sectional, not
in restricted airspace, and the only safe place to land for miles
around. It's usually pretty quiet and empty, a bored civilian
security guard will come get you, drive you back to his office, let
you call for a ground retrieve, and often offer a beer. But, there is
also the odd chance that you will be greeted by black Humvees with
mounted machine guns trained on you, interrogated by individuals in
unmarked uniforms, threatened with arrest and confiscation of your
glider. After a while, we figured out it is better to take ones
chances landing on the adjacent highway (which has tall stakes on
either side to deter landings by drug runners and glider pilots), then
to land at Base Camp when there are aircraft present (I've seen C-130s
parked there).

I landed there once, and got a beer 8^)

Marc

On Sunday, May 5, 2013 9:59:33 AM UTC-4, son_of_flubber wrote:
All of the land out stories that I've heard are about landing out on small family farms and the advice is always along the lines of, be friendly, let the farmer's kids sit in the glider etc...


And, another one from the Aero Club Albatross archives:

On Sunday, May 5, 2013 9:59:33 AM UTC-4, son_of_flubber wrote:
All of the land out stories that I've heard are about landing out on small family farms and the advice is always along the lines of, be friendly, let the farmer's kids sit in the glider etc...


And another one from the Aero Club Albatross archives. Those of you who know Bobby Templin can picture this one (on second thought...):

I don't log landouts, but over the years I've had well over a hundred, most were in 126s. One mid-October day I was calibrating the NW ridge and landed in the model field on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River. This was in the late 1970's, no cell phones, so I walked down river to Smithfield Beach where I thought there might be a pay phone. There wasn't. I knew there was a phone at the Coppermine Inn, but it was on the Jersey side of the river. Being a strong swimmer I decided swim the 200 yards to the Jersey side. I stripped naked and carrying my cloths and shoes above the the water while swimming with one arm. I got about halfway across when I decided this might not be a good idea. The cold water and one arm swim was tiring me.. I knew I could easily make it if I jettisoned my clothes but I would be naked when I got to shore. In the end, I kept my cloths and made it. I was shivering when I got to the Inn but a couple of extra-sharp ginger brandies (the house specialty) cured that.....1K