[stall84]

Allow me to rant:

    As a CFI, and lifelong aviation nutcase.. one who has been described by a few of my instructors in the past as 'morbidly' researching aviation accidents kind of obsessively (other instructors of mine realize on the contrary its a very wise past-time), this is a particular MASSIVE peeve of mine. 

    Just a few months ago here in Atlanta a small single engine plane made an emergency landing on I-985 (actually on an exit ramp leading off of it), around 5PM .. Anyone around here knows that interstate and exit ramp would be packed around that time of day. But somehow, thankfully, no cars were wrecked and the plane/pilot survived with just a collapsed main gear. 

So what's the problem with that?

    Well.. directly adjacent, and in the exact same direction of travel of the exit ramp was a wide opened, plowed, clay field that was being prepped for a building construction. 

    I don't know if flight simulator (how i started as a kid actually) or something else is to blame, but so many new pilots get this idea in their head of emergency landing on roads/highways .. and that is such a horrible idea with reasons that should be obvious to anyone.. regardless of being a pilot or not.

    Imagine for a second your wife/gf or partner were picking up the kids or whatever and driving home on that exit ramp that day.. All of a sudden a plane comes out of  nowhere and of course frightens the heck out of them.. they regain focus on the road to see the car in front has slammed on brakes for the same reason.. before they know it.. a high-speed impact has happened, with injuries or worse to the occupants (all the while the emergency landing plane glides effortlessly to a stop on the exit ramp.. leaving a wake of destruction.)

    That example is just showing what can happen to everyone else, the story this is attached to is a perfect example of what can actually happen to the plane and occupants itself. 

    Power lines, tree limbs, cars, power poles, .. all exist around roads. If you are making an emergency landing.. look for a field first, only if everything on the ground is covered by trees and no grass/dirt/field exists to land on should you resort to landing on a road.

    In the case of an airliner its the same story, even though yes they are heavier.. and there will be more landing gear "dig" into the turf/soil/grass than in a small plane.. but the fundamental reasons why you want to avoid roads are the same.. you'll just have to compensate with your angle and velocity at landing.. oh btw.. soft grass/turf do also help with absorbing some of the E from the landing.

Just some things I wanted to get off my chest, and the title of this article seemed the perfect opp to do so.

[AlbertCory]

There's a big difference between "a good idea" and "sometimes it happens"