What happens after the emergency landing?

[rusty sparrow]

After you've made a successful forced landing, what happens then to recover the aircraft? Is this normally covered by insurance so do you give them a call?

Anything else to consider re the aircraft e.g. tying down, security against 'souvenir hunters' etc?

[BEagle]

When one of our club students was conducting a solo PFL, the engine failed to respond during the last 'response check' approaching low key. So he converted the PFL into an actual forced landing without any damage.

He phoned me, so I drove to the scene. Meanwhile the friendly farmer arrived and asked if he could help. We decided to move the aeroplane to a point where it couldn't be easily seen from the road, secured the controls and locked the door, to await the engineers.

The farmer told us that he and his 'pup' would keep an eye on the aircraft. 'Pup' turned out to be the largest Rottweiler I've ever seen (or want to), but which was highly intelligent and obedient. The farmer told us that if any stangers came near the place, this hell-hound would soon see them off - its bark alone was like a clap of thunder. I'm confident that it would have done - at night the farmer would let 'Pup' out to patrol the farm on his own!

The engineers thought that the air filter might have collapsed, blocking the carburettor air intake, so they changed it, ran the engine and pronounced it fine. A couple of days later, having done my sums from the POH and carefully paced out the available field length, we pushed the aeroplane to the end of the available 'runway' and off I went. The short field take-off took a little longer than I'd expected, but all went fine.....

....a couple of weeks later, the CAA advised that the POH figures were about 10% in error!

You must contact the local police and find out who the landowner is. Discuss security and whether or not the aeroplane can be moved. But if you've rented the aircraft from a club, they should have an accident/incident plan as part of their safety management - ring the duty instructor and he/she should tell you what to do next. If you're a private owner, it will be up to you to have made an action plan.

A few weeks later we took a framed photo of our club aircraft in formation over to the farm to say thank you. 'Pup' wasn't keen to let me out of my car, so I had to ring the farmer!

[Jan Olieslagers]

This is so nice: microlight fliers simply phone some buddy, who turns up with a trailer behind a 4x4.
Less nice is that microlights are (according to some) 4-5 times more prone to this kind of incident.

[BackPacker]

When I trained at OFT I was made to read the Flying Order Book (and sign for it). There was a whole chapter on these kinds of situations alone, and a copy of this was also contained in the paperwork that was stored on board.

Here are some of the points I remember:
- Tend to any wounded etc.
- If you put out a mayday call, or have other reasonable cause to expect ATC might be looking for you, contact them by radio, radio relay or phone to let them know you're alright. They may have informed the police or other rescue services and will need to call them off as well. Furthermore, they may need to know your position for the report.
- Secure the aircraft, not just against thieves/vandals, but also against cattle. Do not leave the aircraft until it's secured, except when needing medical help. (If necessary we were authorized to enlist the help of police, or hire a security company as appropriate, on the spot)
- Inform the owner/operator of the aircraft ASAP, who will in turn inform the insurance.
- See if you can get in contact with the owner of the field.
- Survey any damage you may have caused to, for instance, crops, but don't get into negotiations about paying for them. (On the other hand, the glider insurance I have has a deductible, and they say that if the damage is less than the deductible, it's best to agree on that straight away and settle it.)
- Don't talk to the press. (Remember this was in the US.)

Once these first things have been taken care of, it's essentially up to the owner/operator to figure out what to do next. The main decision will be to determine whether it's possible and safe to fly the aircraft out, or whether it should be disassembled and brought out over land.

In the Netherlands, I know that the aviation police (KLPD afdeling Luchtvaart) and/or the Civil Aviation Authority (IVW afdeling Luchtvaart) is going to be involved as well. They will, as a routine, want to see all paperwork related to the flight to ascertain it was legal in the first place. They will also expect a statement from you. And under certain conditions I think they actually need to give their approval if the aircraft is to be flown out again.

Oh, and you might also want to let your loved ones know you're alright straight away. Your mishap will most likely be all over the social media and aviation websites, not to mention the general press (even if you don't talk to them) and you really will not want them to worry about you.

[BEagle]

Your mishap will most likely be all over the social media and aviation websites, not to mention the general press (even if you don't talk to them) and you really will not want them to worry about you.

And someone will probably phone Plod, who may well initiate some 'Giant jet in horror death plunge' major disaster plan with enough fire engines and blood wagons to cover a 747 crash..... Which is why I recommend calling them yourself to advise them that such a response simply isn't necesssary.

[jxc]

I would lock the doors then take a stroll to the nearest pub and have a drink or two

[The500man]

I've often wondered this myself. BEagle, that's one of the best short stories I've ever read on pprune!

I would lock the doors then take a stroll to the nearest pub and have a drink or two

Good idea and worth bearing in mind; is there a pub on the corner of your chosen field? If not choose another!

[Pilot DAR]

I'l add to the foregoing excellent points, that generally the insurance company will pay for reasonable costs which you incur immediately to prevent further damage. Once injured are treated, and you're satisfied that investigators are not interested in the aircraft as it came to rest, buying tarpaulins, tiedowns, absorbent to prevent soil contamination from leaking fuel/oil, and hiring an effective security person are all things which should be done, and would probably be paid back to you. If security is not possible, and a risk exists, remove expensive avionics.

[rusty sparrow]

Thanks for all the very useful comments so far. Putting an 'land out' checksheet in our group share will be a good idea.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Reference the pub point, a friend of mine once was party to trashing an expensive military prototype on its first flight. After the initial calm-down, he went to see the airfield physician and asked for a blood test for alcohol.

The physician protested that nobody was suggesting that there was any alcohol in his system.

My friend pointed out that by the morning somebody probably would suggest that, and by the morning they would most definitely be right so he wanted testing first.


A couple of additional points to the great stuff above

(1) Phone your family, tell them you're fine but going to be late home

(2) Phone the police, tell them they may get a report of an aircraft crash, and explain what has really happened.

(3)Try and get the aircraft away from any cattle, horses, or even sheep. They will try and eat it, especially if it has any fabric covering.

(4) When the adrenaline dumps out of your system, get a friend or loved one to stay with you, listen, do any driving, and make sure your drinking is at a sensible level. If that proves to have been unnecessary, fine, but do it anyway.

(5) If there's any damage, and thus there's likely to be an investigation, sit down and write down everything that happened before you next sleep.


I've landed in, and flown out of, and trailered out of, a number of fields. To be honest, it really is just a case of applying common sense and asking for help when you need it.

G

[BackPacker]

you're satisfied that investigators are not interested in the aircraft as it came to rest, buying tarpaulins, tiedowns, absorbent to prevent soil contamination from leaking fuel/oil,

Even if the investigators are interested, some of these points are worth doing. Especially everything that can be done to prevent contamination.

(I happen to live very near the crash site of Turkish 1951. Even though it's almost three years since that crash, there are still temporary fences around the area where the hull came to rest, and they're still pumping out and filtering ground water. And a friend of mine is involved in a multi-million euro excavation/cleanup job at an army base here in the Netherlands, where a mere 400 liters of fuel was spilled some decades ago, and has now spread with the ground water over a very large area. Fuel spills are extremely hard and costly to contain and clean up.)

[miroc]

And a friend of mine is involved in a multi-million euro excavation/cleanup job at an army base here in the Netherlands, where a mere 400 liters of fuel was spilled some decades ago, and has now spread with the ground water over a very large area. Fuel spills are extremely hard and costly to contain and clean up.) BackPacker, I thik it is clear to everybody, this is not about fuel contamination of ground water anymore, it has something to do with cash flow. Follow the money...

Miroc

[Piper.Classique]

I once had ambulance, police and fire services arrive (in that order) in the field where I had entirely safely and without incident landed a glider. They were quite hard to convince that all was well. The fact that by the time the fire services arrived the glider was de-rigged ready to go in the trailer led to further confusion, and the farmer was not best pleased by the fire engine's driver pushing though his herd of cows to get to my completely unburnt glider. :} I never did discover what caused the panic.

[BackPacker]

BackPacker, I thik it is clear to everybody, this is not about fuel contamination of ground water anymore, it has something to do with cash flow. Follow the money...

Yeah, I think the contractor would've loved to dig a hole of about 2400m3 (8 meters deep) for free. Especially considering the health hazard - they've got to work with airtight/overpressurized cabins and so forth. Not to mention the 100 or so truckloads of soil that need to be taken off-site, cleaned somehow and then brought back onsite. And that's just the primary spill site.

From that spill site the lighter fuel components washed into the surrounding soil over the decades. That area is too vast to excavate, so they are going to use air injection somehow for the next few years, so that the benzenes remaining in the ground can finally oxidize while they're being washed out by the ground water.

Now I agree that this is a government project and it could possibly have been done cheaper, but I don't think it can be done *significantly* cheaper. (But you're welcome to submit a counter-offer. Just PM it to me, and I'll be happy to forward it to my friend for consideration.)

[abgd]

Is the question more whether or not it's a 'make-work' exercise, rather than whether or not the cost is proportional to the amount of work carried out?

I have heard of huge cleanup operations after leaks into underground tanks... But I'd never stopped to consider what would happen after your average car or aeroplane crash where the fuel tank leaks - must happen reasonably often.

Would I be right in thinking that groundwater contamination is possibly a bigger issue in Holland than most other countries?

[172driver]

I would lock the doors then take a stroll to the nearest pub and have a drink or two

So would I, BUT - be careful where you do this - in some countries it's 8 hours post off-airport landings w/o a drink!

[BackPacker]

abgd, they say that a single drop of oil can contaminate a million drops of drinking water. Any oil spill is therefore a problem, eventually.

I'm not a geo-engineer. I don't know if a spill over here is particularly bad or not, compared to the rest of the world. But as the type of soil and it's oil absorbing properties are not typically shown on aviation maps, can we agree that it makes sense to try to contain any oil or fuel spills after an emergency landing?

[abgd]

Absolutely, but it's also important that reactions be proportionate and for that matter fair - is there a reason for aviation to be treated differently from motoring in this respect (e.g. the lead in the fuel and the fact that an aircraft accident is more likely than a car accident to involve food crops).

I'm neither a toxicologist or a water engineer either, so I'm not qualified to comment. However, I believe that Holland draws much of its water supply from ground water, whereas in other parts of the world (e.g. Wales) it's more likely to come from rivers.

Not really arguing with you - just curious.

[BackPacker]

Not the definitive word, but there are a few differences between motoring accidents and aviation accidents.

- Far less fuel involved per accident. A typical car holds between 40 and 60 liters of fuel, while even a very basic four-seater aircraft can hold well over 100 liters. (Fuel transport excepted of course, but accidents with these typically draw a major response from the fire department.)
- A few infamous cars (Ford Pinto anyone?) excepted, the fuel tank in a car is typically in a location where it is well protected in case of an accident, so a splitting fuel tank is relatively rare. Whereas in an aircraft fuel is typically stored in the wings, and in a lot of cases in a "wet" wing, where the fuel tank skin doubles as the aerodynamic outer surface of the wing. Any damage to the wing gives a very high risk of fuel leaks.
- Most (though not all) motor vehicle accidents happen on a tarmac surface, where any fuel leaking will not leak through the tarmac into the ground water, but will be collected in the waste water system, where it is (relatively) easy to remove. On the other hand, aircraft emergencies end up between either crops or livestock, in a lot of cases.

Back to your question, yes, Holland produces a lot of drinking water from the ground water. But the rain that falls is not enough (hard to believe, but true) to replenish that. So without irrigation, mainly from the river Rhine, we would eventually be drawing salt seawater into the ground water system.

[Jan Olieslagers]

Is this the same Holland where the soil has been exposed to mechanized world war within the last 100 years?

Only half as often as their neighbours.
(in the "Great War" 1914-1918, the Dutch were neutral)

[BackPacker]

Actually the Netherlands saw very little actual fighting during WWII too.

We capitulated after four days of war, after the bombardment of Rotterdam, were not really a target for allied bombing, and were also never on the main front between the allies and the Germans. There are a few localized spots were some heavy fighting went on though, such as the Grebbeberg, Rotterdam, Kornwerderzand, Arnhem ("a bridge too far") and Nijmegen.

Our neigbors to the south were hit a lot harder in both wars.

[abgd]

At least since the 2nd world war one might expect most toxic materials to have either broken down (hydrocarbons) or dispersed (heavy metals). Tetraethyl lead is also organic and hence much easier for the body to absorb than metallic lead.