Gliders and fields.

[Silent1]

What's the etiquette if one should land/crash in your field but be in an airworthy state?
Do you need to inform anyone, or should you run the pilot back to his car to collect his trailer and help him package it up and see him on his merry way?

[RizzoTheRat]

As a farmers son, if we saw one come down we used to check they were ok, and let them use a phone (talking a fair few years ago before everyone had a mobile) if needed. They were all generally very polite and we didn't go and find them either the pilot or the recovery crew would normally knock on the door and as if it was ok to drive in to the field.

As a glider pilot I never did enough to qualify to land out, but there's no need to notify anyone about them landing. We had a two seater that used to make a hell of a whistling noise with the flaps down and someone saw it go in to a field and called the police thinking it was a light aircraft crash. The pilots were enjoying a flask of coffee while waiting for the recovery crew when a police helicopter showed up

[Silent1]

Ah ok then, it'd make a bloody good drugs run then if you don't have to inform anyone.

The only reason i as is that some of our land is 1/2 a mile away from a large glider and RAF aerodrome so occasionally we get one land in a field near us and are only to happy to help out.

[speedtwelve]

It's quite common on competitive cross-country gliding events for pilots to have to land-out. Timed events are a compromise between spending time spiralling upwards in 'lift' to gain height, and sprinting for the next turning point, or area of lift, at relatively high speed and rate of descent. Sometimes it doesn't work out, and although the juicy rising air over Didcot power station is ahead, the pilot may have lost too much height to safely make it, and will throw the flight away and do a safe, planned descent into a suitable field while the height is still available to do so.

It then wouldn't be the first time that the recovery team Land Rover arrives with the glider trailer on the back only to find when they open the back doors that there's a glider still in it!

[john_p]

Silent1 said:

What's the etiquette if one should land/crash in your field but be in an airworthy state?
Do you need to inform anyone, or should you run the pilot back to his car to collect his trailer and help him package it up and see him on his merry way?

Landing in a field is one of the norms with gliding, it's almost always done in a controlled manner and a lot of training is done to ensure the pilot chooses an appropriate field (no expensive crop, large field, no ridges/slope, no livestock).

The pilot will need to arrange a "retrieve crew" who will bring a trailer to pack the glider into. The crew could be driving from 200 miles away, though! He won't expect you to drive him anywhere.

Best bet is to introduce yourself to the pilot as landowner/manager. Let them know of any access issues (locked gates, nearest road, postcode for satnavs) and check there is no damage to crop, etc. If you think a car plus heavy trailer won't make it from the road to the glider's position let the pilot know, as a car+trailer stuck in mud at 8pm is no fun for anyone.

Offer tea and ask for a gliding experience voucher

edit: if you are nearish a gliding club and the field is 500m+ long then they may ask if they can do an aerotow retrieve, i.e. they get a powered aircraft and tow the glider out. Probably less hassle than getting a trailer into the field.

Edited by john_p on Monday 21st September 11:10