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Ok power pilots, when the engine quits you set best airspeed and then look for the best place to land. how do you decide which is the best though? what criteria do you use to determine if an area is suitable for putting the airplane down in?

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Everyone must believe in something, I believe that I will go flying.

First, the mindset of "saving the plane" has to be abandoned. "Saving the 'souls on board'" is paramount. Generally, my x-country flying is IFR (I Follow Roads), so I typically always have a place to land. However, some sightseeting flights in the SF Bay area took me over many an area without a paved road. Here in Utah, there is equally plenty of treacherous terrain.

So, barring a runway landing, and without a nice long paved road, I would choose a dirt road, a mowed grass field, a golf course, an empty school yard, a plowed field, the edge of a lake, a sand bar in a river... really anywhere I can spot a couple hundred feet of soft deceleration. Given altitude and if you can find a better spot, you should allow yourself to change your mind once.

I always keep a good landing spot within glide distance (do you know the glide distance of your plane by sight?) so that I know exactly and automatically where to go if there's a problem. If I was ever in a situation where a "nice spot" wasn't availble, I wouldn't be too picky if it looked survivable. Trees versus water? How cold is the water?

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Jeff Klug
RV-8A prebuild

Roads are generally discouraged, especially in the glider community, due to the common mile markers, mailboxes, etc on the edge, and our long wings. not sure what you are flying now, but when you get your RV done it should be easy to land on a road (without traffic) with no problems. short wings are good for something. what about wind and slope considerations? we teach in gliding that it is better to land uphill with a tailwind than downhill with a headwind, unless its a very very strong headwind. knowing the recent weather of the area is important too. last week we had 5 inches of rain in a day and a half and the fields were muddy. on Saturday when I went flying I had to stop myself from continuing on if the only landable area in front of my was plowed fields. no way was i going to land in quagmire and then try to pull the glider out of that! hay and alfalfa fields, especially freshly mowed, are very nice, ive done each of them once. last weekend was my first on mowed grass (off airport of course) and it was sweet. ive done a couple driveways. one was better than the other. long driveways that extend from the road to buildings in the middle of a section, they were OK but i dont think id try that in power. awfully narrow. If trees and water are you're only choices, you have too much faith in your engine, IMO

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Everyone must believe in something, I believe that I will go flying.

I fly in an out of ATL a lot for commercial purposes, and there are so many warehouses there it got me to thinking. Some of those babies have to be a half-mile long. And where they're located, the only other stuff around them is trees, windy roads, houses, etc. They are literally the most wide open area and some of them look imminently landable.

Of course, roofs always have things like HVAC systems, ventilation units, stairs...and of course, drop offs! But given all the other alternatives a big wide warehouse roof just might make a decent choice for a short field landing.

Not that I'd ever have the brass kohones to try such a thing...

it seems like its the best option. keeps you away from crashing into other people as well, as long as the roof holds up, which it should.

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Everyone must believe in something, I believe that I will go flying.

We had a discussion concerning landing on freeways/roads etc a while back. I think it was inspired by an accident that occured last year when somebody landed on the interstate and proceded to slice through a passenger van, injuring a young girl. This guy had made a series of other very poor decisions, and this appeared to be the last one.

I had a student who was a glider pilot, and I have to hand it to you all. Your understanding of weather/currents/thermals etc is so much more enhanced than power pilots as well as your understanding of off field landings. It pays to listen to you and Tony I would be curious to hear more about your experiences.

Because so many pilots are flying in different areas, it's hard to say what's best. Mountains don't lend a lot of emergency spots, and so a road might be your best option. Whereas, a crowded interstate where there is possibly a racetrack, "warehouse", or other option, isn't such a good idea.

Best thing is that we are always thinking about it. Get into the habit of continually asking yourself what if. And go further than your what if question, ask yourself why? ALWAYS know where the wind is coming from, and never forget to factor that in. When you return from a flight, review, and re-analyze your decision.

Thanks for the question tony, and i'll look forward to hearing more.

Glider pilots practice power-off spot landings all the time.

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Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity, or neglect.

Bob Hoover had a plan for what he would do if he had to land in a mountainous, tree-covered area with no open space -- head toward rising terrain, then raise the nose and flare uphill, stalling into the treetops. He used the technique when a lineboy put Jet A into his plane instead of 100LL, "landed" (crashed?) into a tree-covered hillside, and all walked away. He mentioned the story in an interview on an ANN special feature podcast, then I read his autobiography and got the details. I wish I could sit down with him and talk more about it.....

This is all a lead up to my question. This thread has been talking about WHERE to land, but how about HOW to land if you don't have a big enough space. Hoover had it all figured out how he would put the plane down in the exact situation he eventually found himself in. What about other "difficult" situations.... Suppose you have to ditch in water with a fixed-gear airplane. What's the best way to set up and execute the ditch to minimize the chance of an immediate flip or cartwheel?

One thing I heard was that if you need to land in a place with power lines running across (or ever need to fly under power lines for some unforeseen reason), focus your eyes on the ground and getting the plane as close to the ground as possible, DON'T focus your eyes on the powerlines.

I don't mean to limit the conversation by my examples (fixed gear in water or power lines). What are everyone's solutions to those less-than-ideal landing situations?