Originally Posted by
Pull what
So you would teach your students to land across deep ploughed furrows in a field,or in a flooded field?
It is always better to have a good approach ( ie with the aircraft stabilized on speed and with the flight path leading directly to the desired touchdown point) to a less than ideal field than have the a poor approach to a great field.
So with your respect to your question which ever field is going to be the easiest and simplest to make with the obvious caveat that it is better to land parallel to the furrows than across them.
PFL's in training should be caveated with the same disclaimer as those weight loss adverts "results are not typical". When a student does a PFL in training they generally know whats coming and many practice areas only offer a few fields so it often becomes a semi rote exercise. It is one thing to succeed in this environment, it is IMO a whole different matter if a year later the new PPL is going for a nice bimble on a sunny Sunday afternoon, and suddenly the engine just up and quits. I am a big believer in keeping it simple and a sucessful forced landing starts with flying the airplane. Picking a field can never get in the way of flying the aircraft and arriving at the desired touchdown point in good order. I never said the field conditions were unimportant I am simply asserting that they are less important than flying a good approach and therefore it is important have the student properly prioritize his/her actions. I feel that some schools do not do a very good job of this and instill overly dogmatic requirements on what constitutes the "right field" and therefore unnecessarily complicates an already demanding exercise
That beautiful flat smooth expanse of grass is no good if you get low and slow looking for it and then spin in on the final turn.
As for walking fields to learn the conditions......well IMO this is far over the top. The time used could IMO, be far more usefully spent learning about aircraft engines and systems. The Kas Thomas book "fly the engine" is a great place to start as are the excellent columns on engine management on the AVweb website. That way you are more likely to recognize a sick engine in time to avoid having to fly a forced approach at all.