Off Airport Landings

wrote:
Once again, I have more than 13,000 hours in the lowest reaches of the
airspace system in crop dusting, aka Ag Flying, and have made many off
airport landings.

Any tips for us, since you have the experience?

What are some of the things to consider if you are faced with the
heartpounding reality of an engine failure and an off airport
unscheduled landing?

Rarely heard tips:

Take off your headphones. If the plane stops quickly, they'll fly
forward off your head, ripping up your ears. Also, this prevents
strangulation from the cord.

Without losing control, move front seats back as far as safely
possible. People have been killed from a yoke in their chest, while
the other person (with seat further back) has survived.

Now I have a question: if you're over a forest, is it still considered
better to mush into the tree tops? Or dive into the thick of it as
best you can?

Kev

What are some of the things to consider if you are faced with the
heartpounding reality of an engine failure and an off airport
unscheduled landing? Hmmmmm? I promise you, been there and done that
more than once.


You said that you have been there and done that more than once. Why don't
you share your experiences with us, so we can learn something?

Toks Desalu
PP-ASEL
Dyin' to Soar

Kev wrote:

Now I have a question: if you're over a forest, is it still considered
better to mush into the tree tops? Or dive into the thick of it as
best you can?

The last time this came up, the best arguments I saw were to attempt a normal
landing in the treetops. Stalling the plane into the trees risks crippling or
death due to compression of the spinal column, and it requires much less
vertical force to kill you than it does horizontal force.

Of course, if your idea of a normal landing is to stall the aircraft just above
the runway, you shouldn't be doing a normal landing in the tree tops. You should
be coming in a few knots faster.

George Patterson
Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you quarrel with your neighbor.
It makes you shoot at your landlord. And it makes you miss him.

Dale wrote:
"Rob" wrote:


Carry clothing appropriate to the terrain/geography you'll be flying
over, not just the departure point and destination.


Perhaps that should be WEAR clothing appropriate for the conditions.
What you have on is survival gear, what you carry in the plane is
camping gear.


Where practical, anyway. I'll bring a jacket in the airplane on a
flight from Phoenix to Las Vegas in August, but it's a good bet I'm not
going to wear it.

-R

Kev wrote:


Rarely heard tips:

Take off your headphones. If the plane stops quickly, they'll fly
forward off your head, ripping up your ears. Also, this prevents
strangulation from the cord.

Bull****. Been there, done that. You'll never feel it and it won't
hurt later.

Now I have a question: if you're over a forest, is it still considered
better to mush into the tree tops? Or dive into the thick of it as
best you can?

Fly the plane all the way to the crash. Never stall.

Kev wrote:

Now I have a question: if you're over a forest, is it still considered
better to mush into the tree tops? Or dive into the thick of it as
best you can?

I'd try to stall or be very close to a stall just as the wheels began to
brush the leaves.

Matt

Matt
How can you tell how high you are or how tall the trees are? If you are
near stall speed, it doesn't take much to cause a full stall and you
are just a passenger waiting for the impact!
Lots of trees in the western regions that exceed 150' and thats a long
way to fall on your nose!
Once your wheels make any kind of contact with the tops of trees, it
will feel like you're being sucked right down into them with a rapid
deceleration and lots of noise as things start tearing off and bending.

Dave
Easily falls under the "...dangerous and reckless..."

Toks
Fuel contamination, night, over forested area. Engine running roughly
for :10/:15 prior to quitting. Trying to find any clear area with near
total darkness, headed for an airport beacon off in the distance.
engine finally quit cold. Headed down at best glide speed, full flaps
prior to touchdown, doors popped open (C-150), aiming for midline of
trees, seat belts pulled tight (prior to shoulder harness being common
or required) and seats full back. Impacted into tree tops under control
but jerked around when left wingtip hit the top of a pine tree and
impacted directly into a big oak tree. Both of us jacknifed over the
seat belts into the panel. Both with serious head injuries but we
survived the crash. Aircraft was destroyed. No post impact fire. Took
nearly 8 hours before we were found by a USCG helicopter that had been
dispatched to look for us. One of the crew members happened to be
looking down at the crash site when my student struck three matches in
a clump and saw the matches flare up. That was my first one and the
only one resulting in injuries to anyone. Happened in 1967.

wrote:

Matt
How can you tell how high you are or how tall the trees are? If you are
near stall speed, it doesn't take much to cause a full stall and you
are just a passenger waiting for the impact!

Yes, that is why we practice flight at minimum controllable airspeed.
You DO practice this regularly, right?


Lots of trees in the western regions that exceed 150' and thats a long
way to fall on your nose!

I live in PA, so our trees are generally shorter. The goal is to land
slowly enough that you don't tear off the wings and fall to the ground.
Even a fall from 50' has a high potential to be fatal or at least
cause very serious injuries. I want to get hung up in the treetops and
have them extract me with a cherry picker. :-)


Once your wheels make any kind of contact with the tops of trees, it
will feel like you're being sucked right down into them with a rapid
deceleration and lots of noise as things start tearing off and bending.

I've never done this, but I assume you are roughly correct on this
point. That is why I want to be going as slowly as possible when I make
contact. I want to have to lose as little energy as possible to get
stopped. Since energy is a function of the square of velocity, every
couple of knots slower that you are makes things much better.


Matt