Forced landing or Precautionary landing

[Jaybird180]

Reading this article this morning that hit the Monday morning quarterback nail on the head but it got me thinking:

Is there a definite pattern to the choice to make a precautionary off-airport landing or try and make the airport? Are there enough statistics to at least put the odds in your favor?

I'd imagine those who own and know the airplanes very well may have an advantage in this area, but then again maybe a disadvantage due to failure to accept the situation as it is.

What are your thoughts on this?

 

[Geico266]

Emergency situations are handled differently from incident to incident. Even the same pilot can do a good job one time and freak out and blow it the next. Until you have been in the situation you have no idea how you are going to react, unless you train for it.

In this description the pilot failed to fly the airplane. It came in too fast to land. We all know a plane with a lot of energy (speed) is going to take longer to stop. Trying to force it down without getting rid of the excess energy is going to have consequences.

Flying a pattern approach in an emergency is going to give you a better site picture of the landing area and give you the normal "picture" you are use to, but "no engine" is going to give you a much different glide and decent rate than an engine pulled to idle.

 

[Jaybird180]

I suppose if the airframe were clean, but in the drag machines I learned in...(?)

 

[Fearless Tower]

Not sure how you can allude to the pilot failing to accept the situation.....from the information given, it sounds like he identified a possible problem early (high oil temp) as the problem became real (oil temp continued to rise probably above redline) and he started looking for alternate airports....isn't that what YOU would do? It is exactly what I would do in that situation. It certainly doesn't say he passed up any airports on the way to his attempted divert at Jefferson Landing.

When the problem grew to the point where the engine gave out, he attempted a forced landing and as Geico mentioned, it sounds like he came in too high/fast, but, not knowing the exact location where he put it down, I'm not going to make any judgement calls on his pilot skill......the field may or may not have been big enough to make a successful landing in the first place.

Personally, I am more interested in what isn't mentioned in the report - what other indications did he have beside the high oil temp? What was the oil pressure? Wondering if the high oil temp was the result of failing oil pressure, but those details aren't provided.

 

[Fearless Tower]

I suppose if the airframe were clean, but in the drag machines I learned in...(?)

ANY airplane...even a J3 Cub can come in too hot and fast to make a safe landing if the field is short enough and has high enough obstacles. This guy wasn't making a landing on an airport.

 

[Jaybird180]

Not sure how you can allude to the pilot failing to accept the situation......

I was speaking in generalities in my OP'd question. Wondering if there are pros/cons of familiarity that may influence pilot reaction/ decision regarding the 2 choices

 

[Fearless Tower]

I was speaking in generalities in my OP'd question. Wondering if there are pros/cons of familiarity that may influence pilot reaction/ decision regarding the 2 choices

I don't know that familiarity makes as much difference as the owner vs non-owner. There certainly have been cases where an owner tried too hard to make the field in order to save the plane and passed up good precautionary landing sites or passed up actual airports in order to make the home field or one where the A&P was at, but from the information given in the report you cited, I do not believe that was the case there.

 

[TMetzinger]

Seems to me that the tradeoff is between:

Is there a good place for me to land off-airport RIGHT NOW?
Will the off-airport landing spots be fewer or worse if I proceed towards the nearest airport?
How far is the nearest airport.

Juggling those three can be easier IF you have extensive knowledge of the area you're in. If you don't, then you really may not be able to balance the first two concerns, beyond "it's flat here and hilly on the way to the nearest airport".

The type of the emergency matters too. Something that even hints at a fire probably warrants a landing ASAP, even if the engine seems like it's ok.

 

[dmccormack]

I've had one forced landing and one precautionary.

When the engine gets very quiet you look for an airport. If an airport is in reach you'll do what it takes to get there.

If you can't make it to an airport you look for something that looks as much like an airport as possible: flat, smooth, wide, obstacle-free.

There aren't many places in Western PA and WV that meet the second criteria.

For flying the Chief I'm very glad to be back in Lancaster county where every field looks like a potential landing strip. My forays out of the county will follow routes that continue these options.

I didn't think at all about "I own this." I thought "I need to land this with as little damage to me as possible."

 

[wabower]

Flying in the oil patch and using pastures for ruways was a good education insofar as non-airport operations are concerned. Surfaces look flat and smooth from the air are often neither when evaluated while driving or walking on them.

 

[Dr. O]

Had to put one airplane down in a muddy corn field because a broken cylinder pumped the oil overboard... Managed to do it without damage...
So does that make me an expert?
Dunno <shrug>
Every situation is different - but within the time frame that you have for finding a spot flat enough, with no big lumps, and no power wires, to get the plane into in the Eastern half of this country takes a lot of good mojo working for you...

denny-o

 

[tonycondon]

Flying in the oil patch and using pastures for ruways was a good education insofar as non-airport operations are concerned. Surfaces look flat and smooth from the air are often neither when evaluated while driving or walking on them.

in gliders we generally say 'You can't get hurt in the dirt' especially if it isn't deep furrowed plowed dirt. I've landed in a few pastures/hay fields though. They are not so soft

 

[airguy]

I didn't think at all about "I own this." I thought "I need to land this with as little damage to me as possible."

Yup - that!

Every time I push the throttle up on takeoff roll, I surrender ownership of the aircraft to the insurance company. I'll reclaim it when I'm down to a safe taxi speed on the other end of the flight.

 

[j1b3h0]

I was ferrying a DeHaviland Beaver from Alaska to Petaluma, and while cruising about 130 miles south of Prince George, the engine started running very rough. Fussed with the mixture, checked the mags...the engine went from sounding like a sneaker-in-a-clothes-dryer to a Harley on one cylinder. Scary part was is was getting worse by the minute. This was back in the days of wet compass and WAC chart (no GPS), and no airports close by. Up north, one consideration about where to set down is proximity to some civilization. I had roads beneath me, but they seemed miles from anything and anyone. I turned toward a village I passed and started decsending, looking for suitable tarmac. As the engine got worse, the gravity of the situation (pardon the pun) had me on the edge of my seat, and I found myself choosing one unsuitable road after another...one looked wide, flat and straight, but had power lines string across. Another looked good but was pretty short with a small church at the end. I could just imagine how it looked with a DHC-2 impailed in its wall. I was below 1,000ft, and the 985 never sounded worse, like it was trying to shake itself from its mounts. I finally picked a road (more like a couple of dirt tracks) in a field, pumped down the flaps, lined up on it and landed. What I couldn't tell from the air was that the road was hilly -and no sooner had I set down than I went careening over the top of a hill at 45 kts, slammed into the next rise, dust flying all around, me furiously on the brakes trying to get stopped. One of the few times that after I got stopped, I just sat there with my knees shaking.

 

[denverpilot]

Yup - that!

Every time I push the throttle up on takeoff roll, I surrender ownership of the aircraft to the insurance company. I'll reclaim it when I'm down to a safe taxi speed on the other end of the flight.

Hell, it's owned by the insurance company until it's tied down, and if the hangar collapses on top of it, it's theirs then too.

 

[wabower]

Wish Tundra tires had been available back then.

in gliders we generally say 'You can't get hurt in the dirt' especially if it isn't deep furrowed plowed dirt. I've landed in a few pastures/hay fields though. They are not so soft

 

[Ted]

Precautionary is when you recognize things may stop working right, so you choose to stop first.

Forced is when the **** hit the fan, and now you don't have a choice. We haven't left one up there yet.

This guy was planning a precautionary landing, ended up a forced landing. It's hard to say much more without having been there, I wouldn't second guess him.