Practice forced landings

[rankamateur]

Power lines and farm-over contour banks are hard to see from more than 1000 ft agl. In one session of FLP I got attacked by a power line zig-zagging across an other-wise excellent cotton farm headland and the very next one was into a paddock with a farm-over bank weaving across it. The banks were even harder to see than the power lines in a fallow paddock with no crop on it. Under a crop the banks are usually a different colour because the crop gets more water were the banks are, so that would make it easier, only a problem on sloping ground.

 

 

[sfGnome]

I've been doing a fair bit of failed-engine practice over the last month (PLB in for service, so limited to the local area. Done lots of other exercise too...). Anyhow, two things I discovered.

 

1. Shooting glide approaches from anywhere to the strip (on very quiet days so I wasn't disturbing circuit traffic), it's the last 300 ft that really tell you whether it was successful or not. It's a dirty feeling when you find yourself too low to make it when everything seemed hunky-dory. Also, come in from the dead side if there is no one else about. You're not always going to get left hand circuits in an emergency landing.
    
    
   
2. Go a (known) decent distance away from the strip at a (known) fair height (say 5 miles at 4000' AGL). Glide towards the strip being really careful to maintain best glide. Note where you end up. Now go back and do it again from the same point, but glide 10 knots slower and see where you end up. Yep, we all "know" what will happen, but when you (or, at least, I) actually see it happening, it concentrates the mind somewhat.
    
    
   

 

 

 

 

[facthunter]

If you choose to glide into a significant headwind ( which is not a real good idea) you must increase your airspeed to achieve the best range . Nev

 

 

[DWF]

1. ... it's the last 300 ft that really tell you whether it was successful or not. It's a dirty feeling when you find yourself too low to make it when everything seemed hunky-dory. ....
    
   

[rankamateur]

Another thing I have a problem with is the placard states the best glide speed from the book, then you get in a plane that has airspeed indicator reading 8 knots slow, straight away you find yourself in situation 2 in Gnomes post above, unless you own the plane or fly it regularly you will be unlikely to know.

 

 

[facthunter]

Best glide speed varies with weight also. If your airspeed indicator has an error ( and many do) it is affecting your plane ALL the time and should be corrected. Incorrect placement of the static source(s) is often the problem Nev

 

 

[rdarby]

I agree that the practice only counts if you touch down. It's contact with the ground that makes it a walk away from or not incident.

 

But as opposed to a comment above, you can't always loose hight. It's easy to end up in the trees at the end of the landing area too. You have to judge the glide right, no easy way around that I'm afraid.

 

I think it's a good school that actually makes you touch the ground (in an appropriate ALA) when doing forced landing practice.

 

 

[REastwood]

Having actually done a forced landing for real after a catastrophic engine failure in a Jab 230, I can tell you that your priorities and techniques change, and that some of the things taught during my early training certainly come to the fore. First thing is, I was always taught to look for a paddock, but now I also look (whilst flying along every 5 min or so) for straight dirt roads, farm house driveways etc with no trees, there's a lot more than you think (in SA, VIC anyway). I landed in a wheat paddock with soft wet dirt and a crop which caused the aircraft to flip, the nearby road/track would have been better. Also I was taught to always have a Primary and Secondary site, incase you can't make the first. I had selected a clear paddock with a slight down hill slope and the wheat paddock as secondary. I ended up too high and fast for the first one so I had my backup and it was the one I landed in. Thirdly I was taught if there is a fence, tree, cow etc. in the way then hit it! Do not try to fly over it, sure it may hurt or injure you but if you climb, stall and come in nose first you may kill yourself. And last, as soon as the engine quits you no longer own the aircraft, the insurance company does so who cares if it gets damaged, as long as you don't. With regards to wind, if there are no indicators (smoke, wind turbines, windmills, dams etc) go by the area forecast winds, they may not be dead on but are rarely 180 deg opposite.

 

It took about 120 seconds to go from "Why is the engine doing that?" to "I'm upside down in a paddock!" - Engine ran rough, pulled carby heat, nope, check fuel nope, engine stops dead, mag check, starter wont work, bugger. Mayday, MayDay Mayday, position, POB, Aircraft and colour on Area Freq. (whilst getting aircraft trimmed for best glide and looking around), select a target and another just past it and off to the right just in case, no wind today, right-do an approach, too high, set flap, side slip, nope not going to make it, slope is more than I thought, airspeed good, slight right turn, full flap, fuel off, master off, paddock looks good but has a big tree straight ahead on the fence! Too bad, fly the plane fly the plane, flare, mains hit the deck, phew! Whoops crop has a lot of drag! why can I see crop in my windscreen? Why am I dangling upside down? Can't get seat belt undone! push with feet, unlatch belt crawl out door, look at upside down aircraft. 5 min later CFS, Police and Ambo's all rock up.

 

Things I do now - Whenever I'm flying I am regularly noting terrain (slope, features, cover, roads) and thinking "I could put it down there, or there". I practice glide approaches with various flap settings so that I am familiar with how far the aircraft can go and how quickly you can loose height if needed (as I always tend to be high). I always have the Area Freq. dialled up on the second channel (or com2) as it is better monitored than the CTAF. And I keep my PLB around my neck, or the passenger holds it and is shown how to use it (I had it in my flight bag when I had my forced landing and was unable to activate it, but I had given Adelaide Centre a GPS coordinate as my position, i.e. 5 miles east of Kapunda township GPS 34 20 15 138 58 40 - which I read straight of from the Garmin).

 

Things not to do - Never try to save the aircraft, save yourself and pax, never try to stretch the glide, a stall will kill you, but if you fly the aircraft you stand a better chance of survival. Never get too focused on one thing, like "why has it stopped", or talking to ATC, or "How does this PLB work again?", try to aviate, navigate, communicate all at the same time.

 

Hopefully the above helps you in some small way, everybody's experience will be different and I hope that no-one ever has to go through a forced landing for real, but if you have trained, and are prepared you stand a very good chance of survival.

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Thanks RE, great story..;) because your here to tell us..cheers

 

 

[Guest Bigfella]

Great Story RE, thanks for taking the time to share it!

 

Cheers,

 

Bigfella

 

 

[68volksy]

For me getting them right all came down to simply choosing a field quickly. After initial checks it was just a matter of taking one look around and making a quick choice. That freed me up to follow a very standard forced landing process. As i approached the field and had time I would then look at other options and whether they might be better or not. Before that i'd spend so long debating the merits of each particular field that by the time i chose what I considered to be the best one it was no longer within reach.

 

My instructors and testing officer all seemed to appreciate the methodology. I think you're better off trying to get the plane into a bad field (realistically it should be in at least the top five of "best" fields I think with just a rough guess) and trying to fly a good approach to set yourself up for the nicest landing possible and completing all the FMOST checks properly to hopefully get the fan spinning again.

 

 

[Guest Bigfella]

I appreciate all the great feedback here so I thought I would share my latest experiences with practicing forced landings.

 

So since my initial thread I've had 2 solo flights out to the training area trying to get the PFL's right without much luck, I discussed this with my instructor so yesterday when I went up with him we took a bit of a different approach. I'm a numbers man so we just focused on getting the numbers (heights) right at each point in the 'circuit' to the field that has been chosen, 1500ft mid downwind, 1200ft turning base, 1000ft established on base then on to final where flap can be used accordingly. I understand that I'm doing this over a clear flat rural area with plenty of choices and not as many variables as I could encounter in the 'real' world but as a starting point to understanding PFL this worked for me

 

Cheers,

 

Bigfella

 

 

[Guernsey]

My instructor warned of on-coming traffic on roadways, apparently a friend of his died in a forced landing into oncoming traffic. I guess it doesn't happen often so the likelihood of someone on-coming is even less likely. I remember heading down to Temora a few years ago, looking over to the Newell highway, well with-in gliding distance, and not much else going for us, but it was crawling with B-double trucks.

It's simple....you look for a B-double travelling into wind, select your approach speed from his rear and then land on top of him, not only will you be able to land at the same speed he is travelling at, but you also get a lift to the next town with your aircraft intact.

 

Alan.

 

 

[Guest Bigfella]

Alan, what if the b-double's sitting on 60knots (110km/h) into the wind, you'd have to get those tie-downs hooked up pretty quick

 

 

[Jabiru Phil]

I remember a forum discussing this a while back

 

I wrote a short reply relating to the judging of gliding distance to landing area.

 

Try this. Pick a spot on the spars, or in low wing aircraft ,the wing tip or similar when you have this point established, just pick any landing area in a circle under this mark. Higher you are the wider the circle. And visa versa

 

My mark is just under the pitot tube on the right strut. Allowances must be made for pilot height, cushions etc. also a slightly lower point if heading into the wind.

 

Really works, takes the "will I make it scenario" out of the equation.

 

I have to agree with the previous comments, all good with practise.

 

Phil.

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Bigfella. At the risk of sounding like I'm second guessing your instructor, you really need to be on top of pfl before you go stooging in the training area solo. Practice Is great to refine the skills, but you said you didn that've much luck . That's a little concerning to me to be honest. What if it was a real one ;) . Please tell me it's not a jab your flying ?

 

 

[Guest Bigfella]

motz, relax, it's a warrior....

 

I feel like I've approached this in the correct way, I know I was lacking in PFL's so this is what I've been focusing on, my instructor knows this too thats why yesterday I spent over an hour in the training area with him getting it right. Being the good instructor that he is he's adapted his instruction for what works for me. My specific problem was field selection, no worries getting all the checks out, after yesterday I'm more confident now to go off and practice it on my own. I work on the philosophy of practice is only good when your practicing the right thing otherwise your practice is just making you worse.

 

It's all consolidation now for my GFPT.......

 

Cheers,

 

Bigfella

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Ok, thats good its a warrior, still they have failures too. All instructors are different I spose . But I never send ANYONE solo away from the airfield until they are nailing forced landings. Checks be dammed, if a pilot cant get it down safe, then its more dual. No exceptions. But thats just me:)

 

Im glad you have a philosophy, and its a sound one. But its the philosophy of the training organization that counts, and the duty of care they have is crucial. If you were crap at spin recovery's, would you think its wise to go practice them on your own?

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

 

[Guest Bigfella]

I hear what your saying motz, the reason I like my instructor is because I feel like I'm getting a personal service, not just a 'she'll be right mate, off you go' and he's obviously confident in my ability.

 

From a students point of view it's a whole different experience without the safety net of the instructor next to you, in my case its forcing me to focus on something I feel like really need to nail......

 

Cheers,

 

Bigfella

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Thats good Bigfell, and is so important that you feel "good' with your instructor. It aids the learning process greatly.

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

I'm a numbers man so we just focused on getting the numbers (heights) right at each point in the 'circuit' to the field that has been chosen, 1500ft mid downwind, 1200ft turning base, 1000ft established on base then on to final...

Sounds good! Learning to judge approx height above ground level by eye is important too I found (well still honing that one), you won't necessarily know the elevation of the patch you are aiming at.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

This book

 

http://www.flybetter.com.au/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/Flybetterbooktwo2ndedition.pdf

 

has a great section on forced landings. How to use a point on the wing as a marker, as JabPhil suggests, and how to "keep inside the funnel" to ensure you will always make it to the selected field.

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

This bookhttp://www.flybetter.com.au/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/Flybetterbooktwo2ndedition.pdf

has a great section on forced landings. How to use a point on the wing as a marker, as JabPhil suggests, and how to "keep inside the funnel" to ensure you will always make it to the selected field.

I was reading that site some while ago and it's excellent. I forgot to download the books and then forgot what the site was called. 'Must read' books for all.

Excellent post OK. Thanks!

 

 

[Sapphire]

Force landings have to be practiced regularily. I know an airline pilot who muffed a forced landing of his private a/c into a paddock half the size of Tasmania[almost]

 

 

[nong]

I must warn you, Bigfella. Landing on B-Doubles is fun.................until they go under a wire.