Here some advice that you can take with you right now.
This is the FAA recommendedway (and sometimes just my own
)
1) landing on land - day
- first choise: airfields or out of service airfields. You should plan your route so that you always have a field to land in. Here in the US we have 20000 fields. i think this is gonna be hard for you in the UK because i think you guys dont have that many.
- second choice: farm land. I think they say the lighter the texture the softer the ground - or is it the other way around? Not to sure, but either way. Make sure you land with the rills(that the right word?), not agains them - make sense?
- third choice: roads. if possible, make sure its free of trees & poles either side. and also make sure its as car-free as possible
- fourth choice: personally, i have never heard anyone say to put it between 2 trees, but it makes sense if your in an area with no clear fields. Just do as recommended above. Your landing roul-out should be fairly short
2) landing on land - night
to be honest with you, your chances of surving this are very slim. Reason? You can't see squat.
- first choice: airfields - see above
- second: roads that are lighted. At night, they are pretty much free of cars so it should be no choice
- third: FAA recommends to pick a dark area to land on if above isn't available. They reason its a field or something clear. I think it could be anything. Body of water or woods (they are very dark) is what i'm thinking. But other then that, i dont have any idea. So ya might as well go with that
3) landing on water - day/night
lets face it, your screwed
hehe j'k
since there is only one choice, here some tips:
- land parallel to the waves, not against them (same as farm field above) duh! Hard to see from above, i know, but try your best if you want to survive the hard impact that a wave will cause.
- when descending, CFI i know recommended to have a stabilized descend of about 50-100fpm. since its hard to judge the height when over water you will have a hard time flaring at the right time. Of course, this only works when your making a landing with engine power. Yes, believe it or not, its sometimes safer to land on water with engine power (since you figure you will lose your engine soon anyway) then to try to make it to shore with some engine power. IF you lose your engine en route, your impact on water will be alot harder, and probably tip over = not good.
- there is controversy of whether or not to deploy the gear. The manual should always be consulted on this matter. If you did the wrong thing, even though you thought you did the right, better, thing, the insurance will not cover you and the FAA will kick yo ass for not following regulations (which state you must follow operating procedures established by manufacture).
I think thats it - any comments? If my theories are wrong i'd like to be educated - i'd like to walk away too if it ever happens