Agreed. Establish the glide and do the other immediate actions, then simply look for the best place to put it down. Field, road, water, whatever at that point in time gives you the best chance of survival.
I was flying over Rotterdam yesterday, via one of the standard, published VFR approaches at 1500'. In case of an engine failure, you have three options there:
- Very tall buildings with side streets in between, with parked cars, lampposts, traffic lights, pedestrians, you name it.
- A two-times-four-lane highway with lighting in the median, sound-reflecting walls on the side and these portal-things overhead with the matrix signs
- The river - and that's not even reachable from every location in that arrival
My choice: establish a bit faster than best glide, approach to the highway running with the traffic. Use the excess speed to fly level over one portal, then duck under the next, then put her down as my speed matches that of most other traffic - most likely in the two leftmost lanes. I'd rather be in a collision with a car at 20 knots speed difference than fly into a building at stall speed. And if my time is up anyway, I'd rather make the papers than not!
Unfortunately, that highway is also one of the most severe congestion spots in the country, so it's very likely that there's a traffic jam in any case.
Last edited by BackPacker; 16th November 2007 at 17:17.
Reason: Grammar