Originally Posted by
Pilot DAR
'Depends upon if/how it is insured. Depending upon how an insurance policy is written, an engine, which failed, and was the cause of a damaging forced landing, may itself, not be insured (the component which failed before the insurable claim). A wheels down forced landing might damage a very expensive engine, a wheels up forced landing, will certainly damage it. If it were me, and I enjoyed the airplane, I would like to apply my skill to attempt to leave it reusable, which this pilot certainly did.
The human body might be more expensive than the engine.
That said, when a tarmac landing would be the go, I would choose for a gear down landing too. Not to say, just for this situation, I early on "decided" for myself to do such a maneuver as demonstrated in this situation, when forced into, and go for the Formula-1 corner style to leave the runway. Forget the center line, move to the opposite side of the runway as much as possible, aim for the apex of the runway exit, and hope to not slide off the exit tarmac or lose the gears. That said, this is one of many "personal" preprogrammed solutions to resolve emergencies.
Landing in an unknown field might be more challenging, given it's difficult to see from above / far away, whether the field is smooth mowed grass or knee-high weed. With an engine turned off, belly landing on soft ground, will limit the damage through the prop to the engine.
Originally Posted by
Pilot DAR
And, I opine that most present day recreational P-51 pilots are probably pretty experienced and skilled - perhaps more so than the pilots fresh out of P-51 training during the war. so expecting a demonstration of skill greater than that for which a very old SOP was intended is not unreasonable...
Yep, agreed, with the difference that in the old days, it was Uncle Sam, picking up the repair bill in a landscape with a significant lower amount of regulations, which would make the repair a lot cheaper.
Though, still the "invented own SOP", which might be reasonable, etc, though a dangerous approach in general.