Landing on sand?
Hi All,
Most of my flying at the moment is along the Kenya coast with miles (and miles and miles) of deserted beach as the obvious place to put down in case of an engine fail. However, having walked on the sand, its condition varies massively with the state of the tide. When the sand has been dry for some hours, ie near the bottom of a low tide, it is very firm and would make a beautiful runway. In that state it's like flying with a runway always in easy gliding distance.
But, when the tide is higher, even though there is still plenty of sand exposed, the same piece of sand has very deceptive characteristics. There is a surface crust of hard sand, but as soon as you stand on it, you break through and sink perhaps 6 inches through very soft sand underneath. I don't know how the hydrogeology (?!) of how that works, but I guess that the water is evaporating rapidly off the top and retreating from below, and it takes time for it all to equilibrate and compact firmly. Trying to land on that would I am sure result in an instant flip with nasty consequences.
It's impossible to tell the difference while flying. I do know the state of tide, but I don't know how quickly different parts of the beach change characteristics. I wonder if anyone has any experience of this and any thoughts on what you would do in these circumstances in the event of an engine fail ? I should add that further inland there is usually nothing but miles of horrible scrub and trees which is not an attractive option. That leaves me the choice of sand or surf. Any thoughts ?
Last edited by double_barrel; 14th Oct 2020 at 06:27.