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  • Your Engine Just Quit, Should You Land On A Road Or A Field?

Your Engine Just Quit, Should You Land On A Road Or A Field?

Last updated by Ken Comments (23)

Categories: Trike Talk, Safety

Found an article posing a question I often wonder about. Not a great article, and offercs inconclusive advice, but I think it might spawn interesting conversation. I had an engine out due to fuel pump in my first trike. Opted for dirt road, and suffered NO damage. Anyone else out there got an experience to share?

 

http://www.boldmethod.com/learn-to-fly/maneuvers/forced-landing-should-you-land-on-a-road-or-field/

 

Your Engine Just Quit, Should You Land On A Road Or A Field?

 

When your engine fails, where should you land?

Awhile back, we posted a video of a pilot making a forced landing on a highway. The landing was a success, and from what we could see, there was no damage to the plane. However, there were a lot of comments - over 150 of them - questioning why the pilot didn't land in one of the fields next to the road.

It's definitely a good question, so we decided to do some research on forced landings to see if there was a significant difference in the outcome of road and field landings.

We researched the NTSB accident database, and we pulled 10 accidents, 5 that were road landings, and 5 that were field landings. Keep in mind as you read these, our goal isn't to criticize or critique the landings, but instead to identify the hazards each pilot faced when they attempted their landing on a road or field. Here's what happened with each landing:

Road Landing 1

Shortly after takeoff from Murphy, Idaho, a Just Aircraft Superstol lost power. The pilot initiated a forced landing on a dirt road. During the landing roll, the airplane hit a fence and nosed over. The airplane was significantly damaged, however, the pilot and passenger were unhurt. Read the NTSB report here.

Road Landing 2

During takeoff, a Piper Tripacer lost and regained power three times at approximately 300 feet AGL. The pilot turn on carb heat, and the engine completely quit. Because the plane was beyond the runway, the pilot landed on a road, striking the left wing on a tree. Read the NTSB report here.

Road Landing 3

A Vans RV-9 was approaching Hobart Regional Airport when it lost power. The pilot determined they couldn't make the field, and opted to land on a nearby road. During landing, the airplane veered off the road and into a field, buckling the fuselage. Read the NTSB report here.

Road Landing 4

In cruise flight at 4,500 feet MSL, a Cirrus SR-22 began losing power. About a minute later, the engine completely stopped, forcing the pilot to land on a road. During the landing, the pilot maneuvered the aircraft to miss an oncoming car, and ran into a utility pole guy wire, substantially damaging the airplane. Read the NTSB report here.

Road Landing 5

While maneuvering to land, a Cessna 206 float plane began running rough. The pilot thought the right fuel tank may be running low on fuel, so he switched tanks. Because the 206 was only at 500 feet AGL and not able to make the water runway, the pilot chose to land on a road. During landing, the 206 struck a power lines. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the airplane was damaged. Read NTSB report here.


Now that we've covered the road landings, let's take a look at what happened in the field landings.

Field Landing 1

During cruise flight at 12,000 MSL, a Cessna T210's engine began running rough, and oil covered the windshield. The pilot immediately diverted to an airport, and the engine died shortly after. Because the pilot couldn't make the airpot, they made a forced landing in a field. During the landing, the right wing struck the ground, and the airplane nosed over. Read the NTSB report here.

Field Landing 2

The pilot of a Thunder Mustang experimental aircraft had an oil pressure problem, forcing him to land off-airport. During the landing, the airplane impacted a telephone pole with its right wing, cartwheeling the aircraft and significantly damaging it. Read the NTSB report here.

Field Landing 3

During climbout, a Rockwell 112A's engine began to surge. The pilot attempted an off-airport landing in a nearby field. During landing, the airplane collided with power pole, power lines, and then the ground. The aircraft came to a rest inverted, and was destroyed in a postcrash fire. Read the NTSB report here.

Field Landing 4

During a descent to landing at the Boca Raton airport, a Cessna 180 lost power. The pilot spotted an open field to land, and after successfully maneuvering around power lines, touched down in the field. Because the field was soft and sandy, the airplane nosed over and came to a rest inverted, substantially damaging the plane. Read the NTSB report here.

Field Landing 5

A pilot and flight instructor were practicing takeoffs and landings. During one of the takeoffs, the engine quit, forcing the pilots to land in a nearby field. During the landing, the nose gear separated, and the left main gear was damaged.Read the NTSB report here.

The Hazards Of Road And Field Landings

It's pretty clear to see that no matter where you choose to land, you can face some very grave hazards. But from our small sampling of the NTSB database, a few patterns begin to emerge.

Road Landings 
First, road landings have some very specific hazards. Roads are typically more narrow than a runway, forcing you to make a precise landing in a very high-pressure environment. On top of that, unless you're landing on a divided highway, there's a chance of oncoming traffic. Finally, there are usually power lines near most roads. And those power lines tend not to be very forgiving to airplanes.

Field Landings 
Next up, field landings have their own unique set of hazards. One of the most common problems we saw was the surface condition of the fields. They tend to be very soft or very rough, making a landing difficult. There's a reason so many airplanes nose-over during field landings - fields don't come close to the smooth, hard surface that a runway provides you.

So what's the best answer when it comes to a forced landing? If you have a wide open, lightly trafficked road, it's probably not a bad option to try. And if you have a wide-open field that doesn't look too rough or soft, that may be a better option.

When it comes down to it, there's no perfect solution to choosing a place to land. It just comes down to making the best decision you can, with the altitude and landing spots that you have. And ultimately, any landing that you can walk away from, especially in this situation, is a good one.

 

Comments

  • Wile E Scott

    I have the rough field tires for my Tanarg but corn fields that are 6 feet high are a tough option. Have someone chuck a 6 corn cobs at you at 60mph. No open field choices for me unless I hit the growing season just right. I'm heading for a country road if I can. Yes, I know power lines suck bigtime! For the most part I am over tall trees, swamps and rivers. Now for those choices I hear everyone saying shoot for the corn field... If I can I will, but I fly with life jackets just in case. I'm often way too low over water to make the corn field. Should I be up high so I can make the corn field if my engine went out? Sure, that would be safer I guess. Personally I'm not real frightened by a water ditch. Yes it will be a very bad day. I trust the water to soften my impact more than I do the ground or a tree. I've hit the water doing 60mph plenty of times. It sucks but it isn't a terrible option. AND I do have a life jacket.

  • Leo

    Not having much experience I can at least come to the conclusion that walking away unharmed and not harming anyone on the ground really are the #1 priorities . The point being, our aircraft's well being should not be the focus for our decision when that time comes.

    I'm curious how many of you have or have added an electric fuel pump as a secondary back up pump?

    It's been an add-on I've thought about implementing for my buggy. Thoughts, suggestions?

  • NWhite

    I think trikes are about the last aircraft you would want to ditch in the water. The reason being, once the trike touches down, it is going to suddenly pitch forward, digging the nose of the wing into the water. This would result in the wing and control bar coming to a sudden stop. The weight of the aircraft and its occupant(s) would still be moving forward, forcing the pilot violently into the bar. And don't forget the G-force in a sudden stop. Even at a relatively low G-force of 5 G´s for example, 1000 lbs of trike and occupants is going to weigh two and a half tons. That much force slamming the pilot into a 1" bar is going to crush the pilot´s chest.

  • Wile E Scott

    I hear ya on the physics NWhite. All I can say is I know two trike pilots that have ditched and one of them was a Revo. Both said it was not as bad as they expected and they swam away without major issues. I know that's not a guaranty but it's data. I know a few corn field landings that did not end so well. Hopefully I'll never be in a position to let you know how it feels either way! ;)

  • Eric

    This is a very interesting thread. While I wouldn't begin to think I could prescribe a good answer for all the variables likely to be encountered in a forced landing, I would definitely avoid crop fields from my own experience. Both crops and water will "grab" an aircraft, but the water stays water through the whole deceleration process. Whereas, the ground remains freaking hard regardless of the crop that grabbed the landing gear.

    For a little perspective (though not claiming any expertise), I have landed a GA taildragger on some very narrow dirt strips and landed trikes in some ridiculously rough fields. The biggest difference being touchdown speed. I would not want to ever land the GA plane in a crop field if I had an alternative, but I would feel okay about a reasonably dry grass field (NOT wheat crop) in a trike even if it's rough. I have a couple thousand hours in hang gliders and sailplanes with many out-field landings, and may have more confidence in an engine-out than most pilots. Still, in a heavy two-place trike (minus obvious obstructions or power lines), I would choose the road every time. Just my perspective.

    Cheers and safe flights,
    Eric

  • Rick D

    Hey Wile E, you have hit the water doing 60 plenty of times? What's going on there buddy?

  • Leo

    Let me explain Rick......it's all about Physics man.....One through nine, no maybes, no supposes, no fractions. You can't travel in space, you can't go out into space, you know, without, like, you know, uh, with fractions – what are you going to land on – one-quarter, three-eighths? What are you going to do when you go from here to Venus or something? That's dialectic physics man......( Bahahahahahahaha!)

  • Wile E Scott

    Jeez! lol Leo ya freak. Rick, I use to do a lot of high speed water skiing. Several 60mph water impacts from 6 to 8 ft altitude ramp jumps were not the desired outcome but nevertheless happened frequently. Hey, I never said I was a GREAT water skier! lol The point is water gives and absorbs energy very forgivingly. It also helps cut down on flames/combustion. Then you need to worry about drowning. That part is serious and sucks; shoot for shallow water if you can. I have LOTS of that in the swamps. A trike is going to have some serious moment inertia issues on impact for sure but the overall deceleration is going to be much more mild than a corn field at full height or a 100ft tree line. If I have a nice dirt field I will take it every time. I don't get that option very much out here. A friend of mine here has a first hand account of ditching his Revo in the river. For reference, even the frame was not damaged when retrieved from the river. And yes, he stalled it before entry. Not a fun thing to do for sure but he was 100% fine and did not endanger anyone on the highway. Just data; could be an isolated "good outcome".

  • white eagle

    Well ive been watching the thread and find it interesting. Having made i cant count how many e/0 in a hang gliders the thing that frightens me the most are power lines,trees , fast moving cars. I really dont think there is one saluable answer to the question.Above examples dont quite fit.Engine out in a fixed wing presents some extra challenging difficultys.I would say that two main conditions apply to your decission process. Best glide and altituide. The lower your altitude the risk goes way up and choices go way down but will vary from a heavy small wing to a large wing lightly loaded soaring trike. It flys at slower speeds with an excellent sink rate.Clearly the latter offers the least risk of almost anything flying. But in all cases you make the best judgement with the time and space availible.Every location offers a different set of variables,plains,mountains,trees,water,bridges,fog ,traffic,populace, air density desert rocky dirt and paved roads. The choices are many so i believe your e/o proceedure starts by concidering the terrain and density before you fly. It will lesson the decission choice time if the need arises.Secondly i only fly low when iam flying familuar territory.I make a practice to stay above the tops of the trees when flying up a river. A birdstrike or wire could make you make an unschedualled landing in a hurry.If iam flying up a tall tree lined river with fields such as bonner ferry i keep an escape route into a field.If no fields suitable and lots of trees ill keep a road nearby. There are times when i fly out of the box but iam marginlizing risk and that is a good thing to do i think.If iam flying with altitude i keep a updating reference as to my options and i know i have time to make a choice. Just my thoughts on this thanks ken good subject to keep refreshed on.

  • Jozinko

    My friends engine stopped at 800ft AGL last Sunday. I flew about 70m behind him. He chose landing to field near houses and road. He had better - larger field quite right under him, but there werent any road for transport from this field. Then he chose other field. I landed beside him. He was OK, then I took off and flew to airport and by car I come to help him.
    He chose field landing.

  • Wile E Scott

    One of the things I love about flying trikes is the airspeeds we are typically at are relatively slow. I fly cruise at 64mph and stall at 40mph. Those speeds help us with options and survivability. As a F-18 pilot friend of mine says about our type of flying, "You guys fly for the fun of flying". Most other types are flying to get somewhere.

  • white eagle

    Wilie scott you are just a really true pilot.you got birdbraonitis really good disese to have
    Most people dont know that a f16 is really not alot of fun to fly quite demanding. Did you get a tanarg cant remember what your flying.

  • Wile E Scott

    Hey WE. Yep I've got the only Tanarg flying a Profi TL that anybody knows of. Cool huh! I think it's a great combo. I have one more hour of phase 1 to fly off and then I'm done with all the FAA BS. This last hour will be at max GTOW. A lil bit "o" pucker factor still. That's one heavy rig! I know it's not numerically heavy (992lbs), heck most NW are good up to 1060. It does fly heavy though. I still use to my GTE. She's a light weight. My GTE drives like a scooter and this Tanarg drives more like a Harley Road King. Weird cuz it's the same wing on both.

  • white eagle

    Thanks wille yes i bet thats a great combo really cool. I dont know much about the profi wings .ive heard there well built. And you know tanarg is my favorite.

  • Monty

    i only just found this topic, great question, would you rather be hung or shot? (maybe 'winged' by a jealous husband toting a paint gun.) i'm admitting to quite a few 'engine outs' resulting in 'unplanned arrivals, NONE, well not many were my fault! during my 'fixed wing' days the flying club i was in let me 'test fly' recently repaired planes for free,( otherwise i would be charged $20 per hour to fly the club planes.) some of them weren't fixed properly, resulting in appx 10 'emergency ldgs'. most were in fields or dirt. i avoided roads as a 'set down' spot due to power and telephone wires (yes, phones used to use wires!.you may not see the wires but the poles ARE visible, and to be AVOIDED!) but tried to land close to a road for recovery afterwards. the last two ' events were in 2006, and 2012 ,the videos of these 'arrivals' are on the 'dark side' but i don't know how to get the videos to be visible on Alltrikes. they may already be on this site, i dunno. but if i'm CERTAIN there aren't any wires, then roads, even rough roads are preferred, recovery is easier, plus a 'fix' will result in a take-off, not quite so easy in a field of unknown surface. a freeway would NOT be my choice though i've seen videos where this has been successfully achieved. 'yer pays yer penny and takes yer chances'. my own blog 'how to crash a trike' is on 'T D S (TPS) a few years ago. be prepared isn't only carrying condoms, but being aware of possible landing areas, 'cos' it either has already, or, if you fly long enough WILL happen.

  • white eagle

    Monty i remember your e/o video on the d/s. You did a really good job. If i remember you hurt your hand but as far as iam concerned if you walk away you did a good job. Ive had 3 forced landings in my soaring trike. 1 when my spark plug vibrated off. 2 when soaring at tarkio (ran out of gas) 3000agl so i flew with engine off for another 45 min. 3rd was in my soaring trike when my cap came off my hall windmeter. Really sucked because i couldnt reach it on the compression strut. I didnt want the cap and that long wire to go thru my prop. The faster i went the higher the wire came out of the tube. The slower i went it would be close to stall and settle into the tube. I thought this could only happen to me, a monty python moment. I had to balance that wire all the way back to the runway with my airspeed being judged. I felt so stupid.

  • Tussock

    I've had a few failures. It seems that each time after the engine quit I was sure I heard a deep, slightly ghostly voice coming from behind a nearby cloud... a vague, barely seen white face in the sky with a halo above said "Oops, sorry - I thought you were Monty."

    ;-D

  • Rick D

    Hey Wile E, I misunderstood you. I thought you hit the water in a trike doing 60 plenty of times. Glad to hear it was skis. :)

  • white eagle

    Lol tussocks. That was funny. Rick ive seen that roadrunner do worse things than that to wille cyote but he just get right back up.

  • Rick D

    Ah David, that explains it. I need to get in touch with ACME.

  • Sally Tucker aka Deafladyhawk

    As for me, I'm more preferred the glide path and altitude where there's landable fields, since I'm hang glider for 15 years. Being hang glider pilot, I always establish both glide and altitude where I can land if I cannot find a lift. I guess this is a good habit for me.

  • white eagle

    Hi sal just last night i was going over some go pro footage from bonner .I was looking at all my options i was choosing for poss E/O. I followed the road back to polsen from the canadian boarder. There clearly were lots of field and some were iffy if they were smooth enough. But every mile or so i could see my choices were clearly smooth large fields. I think i would opt almost all the time for a field.
    1 because the risk to others pedestriean and traffic
    2 because unseen obsticles are more abundant around roads
    3 gives you less choice of wind direction
    4 rotors and mechanical turb generators may be more prevelant

    So my first choice would be a field road if i havnt any better options.

  • Rick D

    David, I agree with you in opting for a field over road. I have limited seat time so have not had the experience you and others have, but everything you list makes sense.