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1. 03:27 PM - Road Landing [from AVweb] (I guess they aren't going to publish this after all) (nico css)
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| Subject: | Road Landing [from AVweb] (I guess they aren't going to publish |
this after all)
From: Aviation Safety [mailto:aviation_safety@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, November 02, 2009 12:27 PM
Subject: RE: Road Landing [from AVweb]
Thank you for your note about your experience in landing an airplane on a
road. On behalf of Aviation Safety magazine and AVweb, we sincerely
appreciate your taking the time to share your experience with us.
As you may recall, we asked for your response as part of a project to do a
podcast with two pilots who have landed on roads. Although it took way too
long, we're putting the finishing touches on that project.
Thanks for your response, and best wishes to you in your flying.
Jeb
Joseph E. (Jeb) Burnside
Editor-in-Chief
Aviation Safety magazine
www.aviationsafetymagazine.com
jeb.burnside@belvoirpubs.com
941.306.2245
_____
From: nico@nicsysco.com
Subject: Road Landing [from AVweb]
ROAD LANDING
This might not fit your exact story-profile, but in the 1970's and early
'80s, I used to land on roads in Southern Africa on a regular basis. During
those years, there were seldom anybody else in the sky when one ventures
away from the cities, especially north west towards Botswana and Namibia.
I was part of a construction company back then and we landed a contract to
build a flood control/irrigation dam near the Botswana border. Driving out
to survey the site before sending establishment crews to set up camp and
build an airfield, was an arduous affair with hardly any roads, no signs,
and not many people speaking English. Flying there and pick a road or open
area to land was par for the course in those days. Not that I needed a
reason to fly, I should add.
On this particular trip I flew a Cherokee 300, was alone and I made sure
that I didn't have too much fuel on board, preparing for very short landings
and take-offs. The Cherokee is not the plane of choice for road and bush
landings, because of the low wing. A high wing, fowler flap equipped plane,
especially with a STOL conversion, like a Cessna 206 or 207 is the ideal
tri-cycle plane for such work. The Cherokee had to do for this trip and the
only influence the low wing had on the trip was road selection: no culverts,
bridges, shrubs close to the road, and so on.
When I left, my guys wanted to know how I will prove that I actually landed
at the site. I said I'll bring back a rock with fresh soil on it. And off I
went armed with the topographical map of the dam-site. Since navigational
aids fade quickly in that direction, dead reckoning navigation is best not
forgotten and I ended up more or less in the vicinity after about an hour's
flight, but I could not pin-point the exact location to scout for a
camp-site and airfield. I saw, however, a nice gravel road running
north-south that should be close by the construction site.
The most important part of landing on a road is the preparation: make sure
that a safe landing can be executed and that a take-off would be easy. I
found that three inspection passes cover surface and obstacles, approach,
length, and overrun for both the landing and the take-off.
After landing, the unexpected happened. I couldn't help to think that I was
swarmed by hordes of ants, but they were black kids, nicely dressed in
school uniforms, that rushed out of school to witness this never-before-seen
phenomenon. I must have stirred up the excitement with my precautionary
passes and when I actually touched down smack in the middle of their school
complex, school was out. From the air, there was no indication that there
was a school there because their school consisted of mud huts and shelters
built of tree branches. Didn't look like anything in particular at all from
the air.
Pushing through roughly two-thousand kids now pushing up against the plane,
I could see an adult making his way towards me with a smile as large as the
Grand Canyon. I couldn't help but notice that he was smartly dressed with
shirt and tie, quite an unexpected site out in the bush. He shook my hand
vigorously and welcomed me at their school commenting on the excitement I
caused at his school and making for many essays to be written in the future
about the day a plane landed in the school yard.
After exchanging some niceties, I pulled my topographic map out from the
plane and explained to him what I was looking for and if he could point the
location on my map. He immediately recognized the local names on the map and
pointed to a small range of hills to the north and said the spot is just
over those hills and added some landmarks I should look out for. It turned
out he was the school's principal and geography teacher. That was truly
unexpected.
Take-off time. I walked to the side of the road and picked up a brick-sized
rock with fresh red-soil on it and tucked it safely into the plane. The kids
were singing and chanting with delight at the site before them and I had no
chance getting them to move away from the Cherokee. So, I asked the
principal if he could get the kids to move off the road as I will be
accelerating and they might not get out of the way in time. He waved and
yelled something in Tswana causing them to scatter along the road in the
direction of my take-off. As they lined the road, the one behind the one in
front leaning a bit into the road to see the plane, creating a funnel of
kids right into the middle of the road not more than 300 feet ahead. Several
times I had to get out onto the wing, waving them off the road. When I
started the engine, the road closed again with exciting kids wanting to see
and hear the roar of the 300 hp Lycoming, which must have sounded like
something from outer space to them. So I continued my dance out onto the
wing and back again a couple of times, until I had about 500 feet of clear
road ahead of me, cautious of a possible hard stop if they would not move
off the road in time as I approach on my takeoff roll. So I let all 300
horses go with the awesome roar that the Lycoming can produce and the
resultant dust storm behind it. Fortunately, the kids saw what was coming
and they smartly moved out of the way in a wave. I had more than enough
space to take off without endangering anyone, except perhaps the additional
homework that I brought onto them.
I proceeded to the construction site and successfully identified where we
would build the camp-site and airfield. When I landed at Lanseria, west of
Johannesburg, my guys were waiting for me having heard me calling in on the
comm and I promptly delivered the rock with fresh red-soil.
I guess the teachable moment is to expect anything and always be on guard.
Nico van Niekerk, Thousand Oaks, CA 91359
nico@acu.org
(818) 574-7146
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