Your First Land Out

1-26 straight-out gold attempt across the Everglades and Big Cypress from Miami Glider Club near Homestead. Summer was approaching and that means the end of good soaring on the Florida peninsula - so even though day wasn't ideal I took a stab. Made it past LaBelle but it took 5 hours - stuck it in a field along US29 which I had driven by recently. No sweat. Detailed in Soaring article "In the Bullpen with Bumpy"...

By the way, I can't help but remember the Rodney Dangerfield joke about the "first time":

"Sex, ah, don't get me started. Everyone remembers their first time, right? I do...I was so scared - I was alone!"

My first land out was Memorial day Monday this week. This was my 4th flight in the Mini Nimbus I had purchased about 2 months ago. It was my first attempt at pushing out on a serious (to me anyway) XC flight. A 44 mile out and return. I had launched from Chilhowee Gliderport headed for Monroe County Airport KMNV. On the return leg a high cloud layer moved in and shut down the thermals and ended landing out at McMinn County Airport KMMI 10 miles short of making it back to Chilhowee. It worked out great because this is where I keep my Vagabond, so I was able to just call Jason Arnold and another one of the local pilots volunteered to pick me up and give me a ride back to Chilhowee to get my trailer. Once I got the glider back in the trailer I put it in my hangar with the Vagabond. I couldn't have asked for a better outcome then that. Here is a link to a video of my flight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sucO0Jnm4JI&t=4s


Jim

Mine was also my first flight with a paying passenger. It was in a 2-33 on a day that had some, but not booming, lift and light wind. I drifted downwind (yes, in a 2-33) of the field slowly and saw a cu that I thought would extend the ride. It didn't work and I turned for home. The vario pegged down and stayed there. Even a moderate sink rate would have been enough but it wasn't to be. I probably could have made it for a straight-in but I was directly over a sod farm. I opted for the sure thing and landed on the smoothest field imaginable. The passenger wasn't upset and thought the whole thing was pretty cool. The tug came from the airport (less than a mile away) and all was well. I was embarrassed and an idiot for getting into the circumstance in the first place but was at least smart enough to not stretching the glide in the Blue Whale.

On Thu, 30 May 2019 08:41:16 -0600, Dan Marotta wrote:

28Aug2001 Landed at Rattlesden GC after a slow, largely blue, Silver
distance flight from Gransden lodge in an SZD Junior. I got stuck over a
golf course just south of Cambridge, which slowed me down a lot.
Conditions improved during the rest of the flight so, on arrival I was
able to park in a thermal near the field and see how Rattlesden traffic
worked before landing there.

My logbook says I took 2 hours 44 mins to fly the 67.5 km to Rattlesden,
so 24.7 kph. Told you it was slow!


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

I don't think landing at your intended destination is a land-out. Nor do I think landing at an airport is a land-out. If that's the case, I had countless before landing off-airport. If you always make it home you're not pushing yourself.

On Fri, 31 May 2019 07:27:39 -0700, sgs135c wrote:

I don't think landing at your intended destination is a land-out. Nor do
I think landing at an airport is a land-out. If that's the case, I had
countless before landing off-airport. If you always make it home you're
not pushing yourself.

I contributed it because that was the first time I'd ever landed anywhere
other than the airfield I'd launched from.

Since it was a landing on a field I'd never seen at all previously and
had received absolutely no briefing about apart from "go there and land
to get Silver distance", just how is my story different from other
airport land-outs in this thread?


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

Hmmmmm......I was a teenager, likely less than 100hrs in any aircraft.
A Friday (IIRC.....look it up.....it made the local Middletown, NY paper...).....
Iffy day, found a weak thermal close to "home", did not understand the concept of "drift vs. glide angle" yet.
Yes, I was climbing.
Yes, drift was faster than than the meager climb.....I was drifting away from the field....SGS-1-26.... just signed off to fly it....sigh....(part of the angst of a CFI signing off a student....)
I landed in a ball field (sorta middle of apartment complex) within a mile of "home" when I finally figured out I was "in the poop".

No damage done.
A few years later, an "esteemed member of this forum and my home field" was with another in a 2-33..... they got stuck like I did.
PIC comment was sorta like, "Charlie landed here with no issues, so should we (length of trees from that place to sorta runway....)" yeah.......man more TV antennas grew up since my landing......making an "iffy" into a "challenging". Again, no hurt ship....a 2-33 is a worse retrieve than a 1-26.......
Yep, on my mothers BD....totally another story.....maybe worth another thread.

My "training" for off field landings?
Put it where you want it......every time.....even at home.
About this time, I started doing the HHSC Snowbird Thanksgiving weekend. The rules for that morphed over the years to promote off field landing practice.
Yes......I harp a lot on that.....always practice harder than likely reality....

In the US, I had a few off airport landings BEFORE the bronze badge existed.. I gained an early number.
Since some of our CFIG's had racing/XC experience, they pushed that knowledge.
When I became an instructor...I took the FAR's for a flight test that stated, "precision landing......a landing followed by stopping short of but within x feet of a predetermined mark" (200' for pvt/cml, 100' for CFI-g) to mean......you get a 200-100' landing zone.....period......
Why?
My interpretation of the reg is, "I could touch down at one end of a 5000' runway.......roll all the way to the other end, but stop short of but within x feet of a predetermined spot......and pass...."
Before I signed someone off for a flight test, they got a 200' or 100' marked "runway". Touchdown and stop in that length!

Sorta worthless based on my interpretation of the FAA regs.

BTW....my initial CFI–G check ride.....airport grass was long, passing showers (so grass was wet....) and I still managed to drop in a 2-33 in a 100' "wet grass runway" and stop more than once.

Outlandings can be a lot less dramatic when you can put any aircraft where you want it, when you want it.
Yes......crappy fields can ruin even the best off field landing situation......

At 14:41 30 May 2019, 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.


May 29, 1966. I was 15 years old. Our club had taken our #003
1-26 to Salem Depot, NH for a small Memorial Day glider meet
hosted by Roy McMaster and crew. We had heavy rain in the
morning and watched as a cold front blew through. As soon as the
sun came out, low Cu's started popping, so they decided to launch
the fleet immediately. I was selected by our other club members
to fly that day. It turned out that the Cu's were very low due to the
wet ground, and the wind was quite strong. I found myself
thermalling with Roy below me in his 1-23 at low altitude about 10
miles from the launch point. There were a number of good looking
larger type fields around, but I decided to wait and see which field
Roy would pick, as he was a CFIG and all, and he was below me.
So, as I watched, Roy rolls out and heads into this small (~300'
long?) baseball field (with a good clear approach though). I couldn't
believe he was passing on all of the other bigger good looking fields.
So, Roy lands and rolls out around the baseball backstop and stops
on a driveway between two buildings. His wings stopped about 5'
short of each one. Well, I figured that Roy must have known
something that I didn't about all of those other good looking fields
because he was a local, so I decided to follow him in. The approach
area was an uphill clearing where the trees had all been knocked
down, so the only obstacle was a 3' high stone wall on the field's
perimeter. After seeing how long Roy had rolled, I decided that I
would watch my speed and land a little slower and shorter than he
did. I guess Roy knew that I was behind him because I never saw
anyone ground egress a glider quicker, as he jumped out and ran
to the middle of the field. My approach worked out pretty well with
my tail wheel just lightly grazing the top stone on that stone wall. I
touched down and stopped before mid-field where Roy was waiting
to grab a wingtip and groundloop me so that I wouldn't hit his 1-23.
As soon as I opened the canopy, I asked Roy why he had landed
there as opposed to all of those other good fields. His answer? He
was the principal of that school, so he knew his schoolyard! Except,
he couldn't remember if there was a power line going across the
approach, so he had flown faster than normal. Afterwards, we both
agreed that maybe the nice bigger fields would have been the better
choice. My father wasn't along for that contest, and Roy promised
me that he wouldn't tell him how small it was.... Later, though, Dad
had other opportunities to tell me to "pick a bigger field the next
time..." Luckily, they have all worked out OK....

RO

My first outlanding was a a training flight, flew outside glide, then picked a plowed paddock that was gigantic. Everything went well, except I chose to land long,
I was getting an air tow retrieve from the field, so we had a very difficult push of 300m. When the tug landed, he lost the rings hitting the downwind fence,
so there we were, all looking at each other. Eventually we resolved to,tie the rope to the tug end, and I did my first IFR dust takeoff, an experience in itself.
It’s a funny thing outlanding, I’m very cautious and this reflects in my miserable XC speed. So, I’m on a XC courseflying an LS7 lead and follow with a coach in a V1b
who led me to outlanding height 30k out. He found a thermal, but I could not get the LS7 to climb in it, narrow thermalling in the 7 had a high sink rate, so down I went.
Therevfollowed a fair while of slow XC with no landouts, then I made a mistake, deciding to fly a couple of state comps with an instructor friend and band mate who I now refer to as the GM.
If you’re wondering, it means “ground magnet�. .
First comp day, I fly the first 30KM then hand over at 4,500ft. 15 minutes later I’m back on the controls over a nice paddock at 1000 ft desperately searching. Found 1/2kt at 700 and worked it back to
1200ft, then tried a tiny correction. Bam, thermal gone and into the paddock. Next day rinse and repeat at remote airfield, complete with expensive aero retrieve. We had a day off.
Amazingly, the last day we nearly won with a 2:17 min 327KM under Cu at 11,500 base. We thought our luck had changed, so we went in the next comp, and Bam, same as first two flights, except this time I managed a perfect landing on top of the wheat crop that LOOKED like it had been harvested, as the stalks rose above the canopy, and wheat started shooting out of the vents it became obvious it was not. From then on whenever the glider did a high speed run, a wheat bullet would come flying out the vent system randomly for a few years.

As I had flared perfectly on top of the crop, there was no ground loop, helped by the upturned 20M tips of the DG1000. After that, I went back to single seaters. Eventually, I did a motor glider outlanding check at a later date, but frankly found it
of little assistance, as I always knew I could open the throttle and get away.
My biggest tip for outlanding, always be aware of the kind of ground on track, and if needed deviate to the side of a bad area to stay in range of landable fields.
Think.
Wind
Slope
Stock
Surface
SWER (power lines)
Surroundings,
Stones
Last but not least, when I commit to an outlanding I start saying the safe airspeed our loud every 10 seconds whilst checking the ASI, a practice Imusecon aerotow rope breaks.
Some of the most amazing gliding stories are those of retrieves that went wrong, but that’s another thread I think. Believe it or not, it’s usually a fun adventure, and you meet some interesting
People.