“A stitch in time saves nine”

No one likes to be forced into anything; but sometimes circumstances conspire to force us into doing something against our will. Such is the forced landing to the pilot. We need to learn how to control our ships in the event of a motor failure to ensure a successful landing. It’s not as bad as it might seem. An airplane without power simply becomes a glider, albeit a poor one. Every glider landing is a forced landing, and we don’t read about them auguring in. So what’s the secret? Mostly it’s preparation! – where have you seen these words before.

In this month’s newsletter, I will share some of the knowledge and wisdom built up by pilots of all kinds over the years. The skills they acquired were essential in the early years of aviation when motors were not so reliable, and airfields infrequent. They had to become skillful in selecting a landing spot, or else gravity would select it for them. The pilot who knows how to glide and maneuver his A/C without power need not fear engine failure.

The Flame Out?

Once you’re faced with an engine failure, the reason for the failure becomes largely academic. It’s unlikely. you will have the time or clearheadedness to diagnose the failure, fix it, and get a restart. The ROTAX species is _a sophisticated piece of engineering. But it does fail even with the most rigorous of maintenance. The causes can usually be traced back to fuel or electrical problems, but occasionally seizure or broken rings, or other critical parts fail. Regardless, once the engine.; .quits things get real quiet, real fast. Strangely enough, the quiet afterglow of an engine flameout does not seem conducive to clear thinking and peaceful thoughts. Your brain will seem scrambled in the deafening silence – this is no time to panic, you need to know what to do and in what order.

First things First

1. Keep the A/C flying. Don’t stall it! Push over to maintain flying speed and control. Retard the throttle to its idle setting. This sounds: dumb if the engine. is dead, but there is a reason for it. Read on.

2. Select a field to land in If you’ve been an astute pilot you probably already have a good idea of the possible sites available to you I always try to fly within gliding range of a number of sites. Its considered good practice to play the mental game: “If my engine were to quit now, where could I land?” ‘Play this game as you’re flying along and pretty soon it becomes subconscious. With one sweep of your eyes, your brain will register the number and location of possible sites as well as take in the beauty of the landscape, significant geographic features and things of interest. Thinking like this, the alternative sites don’t take long to jell in your mind; and the decision of selecting the alternative goes quickly.

Motors seem to quit at the most awkward moments. You might be droning along fat, dumb and happy and be caught by surprise. One just never knows when it will happen. There are some subtle clues you might cue into. For example, if all the best fields for landing are oriented North-South, and the wind is gusting East or West, this is a good sign that extra caution is required. Or maybe, you’re cruising low over a kennel that specializes in training Dobermans, Shephards and Pit Bulls for junkyard dogs that were terrorized as puppies by a gang of brats with radio controlled models. They can hardly wait to wreak revenge on a life size model complete with pilot.

Or maybe, you just changed the plugs, filters and set the timing to 4 decimal places. You’re confident the engine is in top shape. Beware -this is the time to be on guard.

Seriously, the point is engines quit for such a variety of reasons, and it’s foolhardy to trust it 100%. Fly high enough to ensure that a variety of possible landing sites are available to you. Keep a mental inventory of sites as you continue on your course, replace them with new ones as old ones go by underwing. It’s not a big task, and it will give you some peace of mind since you know where you might head for in the event of engine failure. Its also one less decision which needs to be made when the inevitable happens. A lot of valuable time (and altitude) will be lost if you’re caught completely off guard.

3. Plan the approach. Assuming that you already have a variety of “possible sites” open to you, you will now need to “narrow the field” down to one and plan your approach to it. Some things’ to consider are:

a) the direction and velocity of the wind,
b) the length and smoothness of the field,
c) hazards on the approach (powerlines, trees, buildings….),
d) your altitude and glide range.

Let’s consider these one at a time.

a) The direction and velocity of the wind. As you fly along you are likely to be aware of the strength and direction of surface winds from the usual indicators. For example, the dust from vehicles or tractors, the drift of your aircraft, smoke, etc. The objective of any forced landing is to successfully land the aircraft. To do this it is best to land into the wind to minimize your speed relative to ithe ground. Consequently, wind direction is important – but so is its strength. If the wind is low or insignificant it doesn’t much matter which direction you land -just select the most suitable site and go for it. But if the wind is strong you best consider landing into the wind, the groundspeed will be slow and the roll out short.

b) It’s difficult to judge the smoothness of a field from the air. What looked like a flat terrain from 1000 feet could • contain rolling hills. I think it makes piloting more interesting to be able to predict the nature of the terrain. Practice by viewing familiar fields from the air, and the ground, as you walk/drive by them. Pretty soon you will be’ able to discriminate rough pasture from smooth hayland,• and flat land from rolling topography. Remember too that the smooth green/yellow fields of July and August are likely to contain 3 or 4 feet of oats, barley or rapeseed – this stuff will shorten your roll out to about 25 feet, if not flip you over. But even grain fields contain areas where growth is thinner or patchy. I’ve noticed that the top of knolls or ridges are less dense growth because they are too dry. Also the lower areas are often patchy due to having been drowned out by summer rains.

c) Roads in the rural areas are OK in an emergency, but watch for powerlines. Powerlines usually parallel the roads, but suspect an overhead line across the road wherever buildings are nearby.

d) Glide range: The gliding range of each machine is different depending on how heavily loaded it is and the given wind conditions. Remember a strong headwind will set you back considerably. Know your machine’ and how far it will glide under different conditions. It’s easy to lose altitude – so I think a good general rule is to accept a good nearby field rather than a better one that may be at the limit of your glide range. Plan your approach to set up for touchdown at some predefined point. Altitude can be easily lost by doing a slip, or making some shallow S-turns on your final approach. Better to err on the side of being too high than too low. The last few tens of feet can quickly be lost in a straight side slip, or you can use the extra height to dodge a last minute fence or obstacle.

4. Cause check. If you have the luxury of extra time on your hands, the time to do a cause check comes after you’ve selected a field and setup your approach. While on base leg or on a long final a cursory check can be done to see if you accidentally hit the on-off switch with a clumsy gloved hand or cuff of your jacket. A restart might even be tried if you’ve got things made. Sometimes, the Rotax quits for no apparent reason. It might only be a minor plug fouling or temporary short circuit or momentary lapse of fuel flow and a restart might be successful.

Don’t forget that your throttle ‘has to be idle to get the best chance for a restart on your Rotax. Don’t waste valuable time trying to- restart it though. A few pulls is enough if it wants to go, otherwise something more serious is wrong and no amount of pulling is going to help.

5. Concentrate on approach and landing. By now your on short final and •committed to landing. This is no time to get cold feet and freeze up mentally. Concentrate • on your landing point and determine if you are too high or too low. Maintain an appropriate airspeed for control and glide. Conduct a normal flare and touchdown. The roll out can be shortened by deliberately ground looping your A/C rather than meeting a fence, tree or building. If the ground loop is done at 20 mph or less you’re unlikely to do any substantial damage, if any at all.

Now its time to get out and think things over. You may, or may not be able to fly out of the field you’ve forced landed in. The first course of action is deciding what caused the engine to fail. Chances are it will fire up and run well with only some minor tweaking. Satisfy yourself that it is running “faithfully” again before trying to take-off. If not, it’s time to borrow a trailer or bring the tools to the A/C and fix it. Chances are you think you might have landed in the middle of nowhere, but it’s uncanny how people are attracted to a downed A/C. Within minutes you’re likely to have more help than you need.

It’s good PR to repay the hospitality and help you might receive. Send that fanner a bottle’ of whiskey later – or if he is not too sociable to -find you in his field then immediately offer to pay for.. damages you may have been responsible for, in the way of ruined crop.

In Summary

Forced landings happen. Often. Figure on one occuring every 50 to 100 hours of flying with the average U/L, even if your nickname is Tom “two-stroke”. Forced landings can’t be seperated from flying they go with the territory. We need to know how to successfully execute the proven procedures for a safe forced landing. Think about this short list of steps and the order of the actions required: Memorize it and mentally play out what you would do. Visualize the situation and your actions until they become mechanical i.e. trained reflexes.

1. MAINTAIN SPEED
2. SELECT A FIELD
3. FLAN THE APPROACH
4. CAUSE CHECK (if time available)’
5. RESTART ATTEMPT (if time available)
6. CONCENTRATE ON APPROACH

In this article I have concentrated on the forced landing which occurs during cruise. In a future article I will explore the procedures for a forced landing following a take-off.

Fly Safe