Quite.

I apologise to those who know him if I seem harsh, but he should not be in the air on his own.

There seem to be a number of incidents where aircraft have landed on the canopy of trees like this and the occupants left unscathed.

ReHeat

That is harsh ! I am sure there are not many of us who can look back and havent at some time done something totally stupid which we got away with?

The difference is that he didnt get away with it. That makes his story fodder for us armchair /bar room pilots in this forum to disect and devour and judge in our leaisure and the comfort of our homes.

He is a low time, inexperienced pilot with more enthusiasm than ability and knowledge and that has got him into a mess.

Inadvertantly he proabably did the right thing stalling into the trees rather than hitting them at high speed.

It will be a hard lesson for him (I hope) and one that he will learn from. Banning him? No. Take that route and principal and there are probably loads of us who should have been banned at one time or another.

Pace

light aircraft down at golf course
 

CRX

But would you ban him from flying? Maybe insist on further training etc but Ban? Surely that would open a can of worms?

Pace

The BBCi report says: "He found himself left with no choice but to make his first emergency landing at the golf course, after a failed attempt to put down at Dundee Airport."

The golf course is on the NE side of the city, and the airport on the SW side. It would be interesting to see his track/altitude between the two.

I suppose that is the problem with owning your own machine with a low level of experience.

If you self fly hire from a club, an instructor has to authorise your flight (at my club anyway). This means if you are planning a trip of that distance (chelmsford - kinloss, in this case) your planning, fuel calcs, route etc will be reviewed, thus preventing any gross errors. In addition to that the majority of clubs have 30 day (there abouts) currency requirements, which is also effective in picking up rusty areas etc.

In other words you have someone with a greater level of experience 'keeping an eye on you'. Which was probably lacking in this case - although nobody can say for sure.

I am not saying that low hour pilots should not own aircraft, but it does remove this safety net......... the debate continues.

.

Controversial viewpoint on a site frequented by drivers of heavy metal :p:ok:

If that's true, then the FE should hang his head in shame, and think long and hard. Just as much chance of causing chaos on a local bimble as on any other type of outing.

What prevented him from landing at Dundee. Dundee is a nice airport to fly into, especially in comparison to some trees on a golf course...

Biggles never got shot down over Dundee :ok:

Without you on duty then, things would've turned out much worse... Hurrah! :)

CRX's comments earlier about the increased work load put on ATC are dead right!!...for the controller to be confronted with an ultralite aircraft flying through the middle of her IFR traffic as she tried to sequence it for arrival to Edinbugh is glady not a daily occurence....she did a brilliant job but then one as to be expected ...:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

I suppose landing on one of those long flat fairway thingies was the more difficult option then..... :ouch:

A V G (“Vince”) Hagedorn

Is:
A graduate in Maths

Having flown past Edinburgh, Fife, Leuchars and than Dundee - at which point, only a few miles to the north of the city, did he eventually realise that the sume total of his remaining fuel wasn't even going to get him back to Caird Park Golf course and not Kinloss , as he had planned.

He allegedly thought about putting down at Leuchars ( press quote) but , if this is so, then he could have got to where he did without flying right over the East of the city of Dundee - Much easier to approach Dundee airport by descending over the river towards the field.

I'm sorry but as hero of the hour he is a very lucky man. His flight planning was pants - From Barrow to Kinloss, Dundee is probably just over half way. Why didn't he route via Perth which would have avoided the conflict with EDI and given him two diversion possibilities?

you beat me to it
 

ORAC - i concur , having looked at the golf course on Google Earth , there seems to be rather more long fairways than trees ? difficult to believe that every fairway was occupied the whole length , those microlights stop in about 50 yds don't they, besides he could have stuck his head out of the window and shouted FORE !! that would have made any golfers scatter :ok:
still I'm glad he made it.

What I find incredulous is the fact that he is reported as being onroute to visit his daughter following a berievement.
Why didn't he go sqeezy jet or ryanscare? I'm sure she feels a lot better now, it will take her mind off things!:ugh:

More from BBCi:

"Greg Martin said: "It's incredibly lucky. The pilot has not just saved his own life, but avoided a catastrophe. "It is a miracle he is alive. He must have been pretty capable at handling that aeroplane."

"The pilot must have seen what was ahead and kept away from the built-up areas. He deserves credit.""

Mr Martin - I salute your optimism :E

"I elected to land in a tree rather than the golf course fairway." :ugh:His words, live on the BBC. Susan Boyle, eat your heart out :}

I think he made the wrong decision :eek:

I must admit that decision had me puzzled!
Nice long par 5 or a solid tree?????

Still am glad he is still here to explain the decision :-)