Landout

Editor: In Outlanding Techniques, Part 1 Roy wrote about landouts at private and small airports. Let's read on as we look into the possibilities of off-airport landings.

Cultivated farm fields

The optimum farm

This is a hard subject to write about beyond offering some general observations and simple advice. Different regional factors including farming and crop differences, irrigation methods, topography, vegetation, grazing animals, wetlands, spring mud, winter snowfall, and other concerns all mean that local knowledge and experience are most helpful. What works in one area will be useless in another.  Still,

We all would love to land near a farm with a swimming pool or a pub with a cold beer and some good food, but landing safely and with no damage to our glider or self is the number one priority. We can’t win a competition or fly another day with a broken glider, nor do we want to waste any of the summer with lengthy repair time to the glider or worse, ourselves.  When you touch down in the

Outlanding (or an off-field landing as others would call it) preparation starts from a long way out, even at 5000’ when we still have 40km of distance to cover before hitting terra-firma.  It starts with a simple, there’s my track line to the turn point, off to the left is a scrub line and generally unlandable terrain, to the right is generally better, this thought at that moment

The genesis of this article was an email question, sent in by a new XC pilot to an XC program panel where I was a mentor. The writer wanted to know if his club’s new acquisition of a higher performance single place glider might mean that newer XC pilots like him could participate in a Regional contest with a plan for “airport hopping” on tasks and thus avoid the challenge

During a landout in a glider, you may find yourself in a hostile environment lasting for several hours to several days. While most US pilots think of the desert or Rocky Mountain areas as the likely place for an extended stay to occur, it can just as easily happens closer to home. In April 2007 a very experienced ridge soaring pilot went down along the forested Alleghany Mountains in Pennsylvania.

It happens all too often when we find a day where there are good soaring possibilities or life gets in the way which doesn’t allow for cross country. Too short a soaring window, restrictions on the sailplane because of club requirements, the wind is too strong, you’re not feeling up to it, etc.

Rather than just aimlessly flying around the local airfield, some of the below items can be practiced

Outlanding Story - Flashback to yester-year

The year is 2004, Standard Class Nationals. Hobbs has been wet, raining, and in general not very Hobbs like. Future U.S. team member Mike Westbrook is 19 years old and at the bottom of the pack. I’m not far ahead of him, and 22-year-old Garret Willet is leading the pack of “90’s kids” in a strong 21st place. Charlie Lite is the CD, and he is struggling