Impossible to ditch in a field (almost)

Welcome to North Carolina. I have relocated to RDU from West Virginia. The
east cost does have a lot of airports but there is a triangle from western
VA to northern WV and over to western MD that have been known for more than
crashes than normal (latest Rick Hendricks King Air).



The elevation is not too bad but the WV area is just not forgiving. The
weather is mostly IMC with Ice almost all year long. If you look at a topo
of WV (All of it), VA (Blue Ridge MTN area) & MD (western) you will see a
lot of relief (nothing flat) with poor radar coverage.



If you stay in NC, Flying is great! You can enjoy the mountains to the
cost, and even see where it all started at Kitty Hawk. Enjoy your visit.

Adam
My feelings are that too many pilots can't land well under stress
anyway and NEVER practice precision landings. With an emergency, you've
got lots of stress and often limited areas to land....most of which
will require a precision landing to minimize the damage potential to
occupants. (This for an off airport landing of course.)
With thousands of hours crop dusting and operating off marginal strips
I've had ample opportunity to pass that information and experience to
the pilots and students I fly with.
Just to have an airport close by does not automatically mean you can
dead stick it and walk away a hero. That nasty STRESS factor raises its
head and screws up what could have been a very Ho-Hum landing and a
push or tow to the maintenance area. I've made hundreds (if not
thousands) of off airport landings with airplanes and only wrinkled one
aircraft in the process but when the engine failed it was only about
200'agl and not many options. OTOH, I've had engine failures during a
spray run and got it down OK just thinking ahead of what I was doing.
If you are concerned, there is no reason why you can't limp from
airport to airport just in case you have an engine failure. Better safe
than sorry but it sure will limit where you go and what you see!
I'd rather spend some time on precision landings just in case you have
to do an off airport touchdown.
Fly safe and enjoy it.
Ol Shy & Bashful

What you said. I love the thing about being near an airport not
guaranteeing anything. I've watched 2 a/c balled up by pilots who knew
better but tried to strech a glide to the runway.

But maybe you want to clarify 'precision landing practice'.

From another thread:
"I managed 8 touch and goes within the space of .8 hours ...(deleted)....
I'm
all about the zen of the approach. I really like bringing it in over
the end of the runway, with the airplane at the same height each time.
Touching down long, if I've blown the approach, is points against me
in my mind. In fact I thought about landing long on the last landing
simply to reduce taxiing because we were using 36 for landings today
and the FBO is at the north end of the runway. But even when I wanted
to land long, I found myself reverting to type and touched down before
the majority of the tire marks."

That isn't real useful practice for off-field or emergency landings. I
would suggest that one needs to practice non-standard approaches to
different touchdown points. Over obstacles, without obstacles, wind, etc
Sitting in the home approach doing touch and gos with all the speeds,
turnpoints, and sight pictures locked in does not prepare you to put it on a
curving road with power lines and reflectors. Or an atheletic field. Let
alone the fine points of whether you should land with the furrows or
against them. Or why you should really focus on that out building that you
aren't going to hit (because there is probably a power line running to it
that you will hit).

I come at this from glider outlandings where I've logged just under 50.
Selway - I can't imagine your career.

Nothing concentrates the mind like silence at 500ft.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Adam
My feelings are that too many pilots can't land well under stress
anyway and NEVER practice precision landings. With an emergency, you've
got lots of stress and often limited areas to land....most of which
will require a precision landing to minimize the damage potential to
occupants. (This for an off airport landing of course.)
With thousands of hours crop dusting and operating off marginal strips
I've had ample opportunity to pass that information and experience to
the pilots and students I fly with.
Just to have an airport close by does not automatically mean you can
dead stick it and walk away a hero. That nasty STRESS factor raises its
head and screws up what could have been a very Ho-Hum landing and a
push or tow to the maintenance area. I've made hundreds (if not
thousands) of off airport landings with airplanes and only wrinkled one
aircraft in the process but when the engine failed it was only about
200'agl and not many options. OTOH, I've had engine failures during a
spray run and got it down OK just thinking ahead of what I was doing.
If you are concerned, there is no reason why you can't limp from
airport to airport just in case you have an engine failure. Better safe
than sorry but it sure will limit where you go and what you see!
I'd rather spend some time on precision landings just in case you have
to do an off airport touchdown.
Fly safe and enjoy it.
Ol Shy & Bashful

Maule Driver wrote:
What you said. I love the thing about being near an airport not
guaranteeing anything. I've watched 2 a/c balled up by pilots who
knew
better but tried to strech a glide to the runway.

But maybe you want to clarify 'precision landing practice'.
************************************
In response to that, I've started a whole new thread for Precision
Landings. I've been thinking about them and your comments regarding
rough fields, furrows, etc. A good topic to really get involved with.
Cheers
Ol Shy & Bashful

From another thread:
"I managed 8 touch and goes within the space of .8 hours
....(deleted)....
I'm
all about the zen of the approach. I really like bringing it in over
the end of the runway, with the airplane at the same height each
time.
Touching down long, if I've blown the approach, is points against me
in my mind. In fact I thought about landing long on the last landing
simply to reduce taxiing because we were using 36 for landings today
and the FBO is at the north end of the runway. But even when I
wanted
to land long, I found myself reverting to type and touched down
before
the majority of the tire marks."

That isn't real useful practice for off-field or emergency landings.
I
would suggest that one needs to practice non-standard approaches to
different touchdown points. Over obstacles, without obstacles, wind,
etc
Sitting in the home approach doing touch and gos with all the speeds,
turnpoints, and sight pictures locked in does not prepare you to put
it on a
curving road with power lines and reflectors. Or an atheletic field.
Let
alone the fine points of whether you should land with the furrows or
against them. Or why you should really focus on that out building
that you
aren't going to hit (because there is probably a power line running
to it
that you will hit).

I come at this from glider outlandings where I've logged just under
50.
Selway - I can't imagine your career.

Nothing concentrates the mind like silence at 500ft.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Adam
My feelings are that too many pilots can't land well under stress
anyway and NEVER practice precision landings. With an emergency,
you've
got lots of stress and often limited areas to land....most of which
will require a precision landing to minimize the damage potential
to
occupants. (This for an off airport landing of course.)
With thousands of hours crop dusting and operating off marginal
strips
I've had ample opportunity to pass that information and experience
to
the pilots and students I fly with.
Just to have an airport close by does not automatically mean you
can
dead stick it and walk away a hero. That nasty STRESS factor raises
its
head and screws up what could have been a very Ho-Hum landing and a
push or tow to the maintenance area. I've made hundreds (if not
thousands) of off airport landings with airplanes and only wrinkled
one
aircraft in the process but when the engine failed it was only
about
200'agl and not many options. OTOH, I've had engine failures during
a
spray run and got it down OK just thinking ahead of what I was
doing.
If you are concerned, there is no reason why you can't limp from
airport to airport just in case you have an engine failure. Better
safe
than sorry but it sure will limit where you go and what you see!
I'd rather spend some time on precision landings just in case you
have
to do an off airport touchdown.
Fly safe and enjoy it.
Ol Shy & Bashful