Emergency Landings

This has come up a couple of times lately. Has anyone else here done
an off airport unscheduled landing? What were the circumstances and
outcome? How do you view it after the fact and what do you do to avoid
another one? (helicopters don't countgg)

Do gliders count?


"Ol Shy & Bashful" wrote in message
oups.com...
This has come up a couple of times lately. Has anyone else here done
an off airport unscheduled landing? What were the circumstances and
outcome? How do you view it after the fact and what do you do to avoid
another one? (helicopters don't countgg)

On Sat, 13 Oct 2007 18:18:08 -0700, Ol Shy & Bashful
wrote:

This has come up a couple of times lately. Has anyone else here done
an off airport unscheduled landing? What were the circumstances and
outcome? How do you view it after the fact and what do you do to avoid
another one? (helicopters don't countgg)

I assume ultralights don't count either...

Had a few in my Taylorcraft, though.

One was fuel contamination... I had just filled up from the FBO's
brand new fuel truck, which I gathered had never been adequately
flushed. Out over the wilds of New Jersey somewhere the engine
started running rough, barely enough power to maintain altitude. I
decided to land in a remote field out in the pine barrens, found a
whole bunch of crud in the gascolator. Drained it out and things were
fine. Taxiing back to the end to takeoff again, I saw a rusty wind
sock frame in the weeds... I later learned it was an old crop duster's
field. You can be sure I had words with the FBO ower when I got back!

Put it on a Hudson RIver pier once while flying the NYC "slot". The
engine was still running, but I was nearly out of fuel when the full
wing tank refused to drain into the main tank (a common problem on the
early T-Crafts), and I didn't want to chance "maybe" having enough to
reach another airport. The landing was a non event and so was the
takeoff the next day (except for legal issues, both local and FAA, a
l-o-o-n-g story, suffice it to say I won in the end). From this I
learned not to wait so long before draining the wing tank into the
main tank, though I eventually solved the feed problem.

The complete engine failure on takeoff (engine swallowed a valve seat)
wasn't off airport, since I got it back on the runway... barely.

-Dana
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On Oct 13, 8:18 pm, Ol Shy & Bashful wrote:
This has come up a couple of times lately. Has anyone else here done
an off airport unscheduled landing? What were the circumstances and
outcome? How do you view it after the fact and what do you do to avoid
another one? (helicopters don't countgg)

I've had one in 30 years/3000 hours. It was fuel exhaustion. Outcome
was great. Full description at http://pad39a.com/gene/breathe.html .
--
Gene Seibel
Tales of Flight - http://pad39a.com/gene/tales.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

Ol Shy & Bashful wrote:
This has come up a couple of times lately. Has anyone else here done
an off airport unscheduled landing? What were the circumstances and
outcome? How do you view it after the fact and what do you do to avoid
another one? (helicopters don't countgg)

In '80 in a rented 172. I was at PPSEL + 10 or 15 hours. Engine decided it
wanted an overhaul before TBO. Landed in a pasture that was larger than the
airport I operated out of.

Outcome was walked to pasture's owners house and called CFI/aircraft owner
and told him where to come pick up his airplane.

Ol Shy & Bashful wrote:
This has come up a couple of times lately. Has anyone else here done
an off airport unscheduled landing? What were the circumstances and
outcome? How do you view it after the fact and what do you do to avoid
another one? (helicopters don't countgg)


I had one back in 1973 in a Skylane. The wing tank bladders were
collapsed and I did not recognize it. Gas gages were ok and I visually
check the tanks and they showed "full". I ran out of gas about 2.5 hours
to soon. Landed in a frozen wheat field in SW Kansas. Beautiful landing!
I am not sure how you could protect your self from this problem. I
always like to have one hour reserve. (I guess that would not have
helped here either)

--

Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
KSWI

I had one in '93 in my old straight tailed 172. The carb came apart (due
to a bad overhaul ~300 hrs. prior) during a low altitude sightseeing flight.
I had to put it down in some rough terrain in the desert. Nose gear
collapsed and wing spar snapped, but no serious injuries.

Not much I would do differently today. The cause was a mechanical failure
that could not be easily detected with a visual inspection, although I do
give my carb a good yank whenever I have the cowl off these days. Since I
was a student, I've always tried to keep within gliding distance of
relatively flat ground, but realistically, that's not always possible. I
just happened to have my failure during that small window of time where I was
out of gliding range.

Here's a pic : http://members.cox.net/jgalban/id42.htm

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

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