Glider Landing in a Field from Pilot's Perspective

Cockpit video of glider pilot Bruno Vassel IV (B4) struggling to find lift 900 ft above the ground on final glide to the airport and getting to 300 ft where he turns and lands in an alfalfa field.

Background - After a fun day of soaring I decided to go out and play in the low level smooth wave lift before landing in the Logan, Utah valley just northwest of the airport. I allowed myself to get 15 miles away from the airport and was only 1,000 ft above the ground after hitting some extended 800 fpm sink. I thought I could find something to bump me up to final glide for the way home but failed to utilize the little lift I flew through on the way to the ground.

Much of the radio conversation is with fellow glider pilot Dan Wrobel (DW) flying a Ventus B several thousand feet above me - he was smart and didn't get low. I hope that this video will be of interest to other glider pilots who have not yet experienced an "off-field landing." Please note that the field was picked out around 600 ft and there were multiple choices of other good fields to land in. I needed to clear some trees and didn't want to go to landing flap after clearing them and so close to the ground so I landed in thermalling flap at around 45 knots indicated. The glider was completely unharmed and flew the next day. To see the igc file for this flight please visit http://tinyurl.com/29j9ezz

Please subscribe to my youtube channel by going to http://www.youtube.com/user/bviv and clicking Subscribe. Thanks! - Bruno

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• gliding
• off
• field
• landing
• glider
• sailplane
• soaring
• Logan
• Utah
• Bruno
• Vassel
• asw-20
• asw20
• emergency

[ENGEEEX]

Hey man ive got a question. Is there any special training/requirements to fly cross country? not particularly in competition.

[bviv]

@ENGEEEX There is nothing formal if you own your glider. If you are a part of a club, they may have some requirements. It just takes sucking it up and committing to go. It is crazy exciting as you leave gliding distance from your home airport. You are relying on your skills and decisions to get you back home. This is one of the reasons why the sport is so addicting. There are lots of books on how to do it but most important thing is to always have a safe place to land. Go try it! Bruno

[snoobeagle]

When the plane is retrieved, do the wings detach to make for easy flatbed hauling?

[bviv]

@snoobeagle The wings come off the glider in just a few minutes and we have a special trailer designed to transport the glider back to the airport. To put the glider wings back on takes around 30 minutes so it really isn't a big deal. Thanks for watching. Bruno

[c762x39]

Hi Bruno,

The clarity of you videos reminds m of my training days in New Zealand but sadly did not pursue any further.

Just a innocent question. In one of my last training flights we were around 5-7 miles from the base and we were losing altitude fast. My instructor took control and went Vne (120knots) on a Janus (I think ?) and we were down to 300' before he traded the speed for altitude and went vertical back to 900-1000' to commence final approach. Was this not an option for you? Thanks!

[bviv]

@c762x39 It might have looked like a long way but it sounds like you had plenty of altitude to spare to get back to the airport. When you speed up to fast speeds like 120 knots plus your glide ratio goes way down and you actually can not go as far as when you are flying around 65 knots. No it was not an option. I had no airports within 30 miles of me unfortunately but at least there were plenty of farmers' fields. ;) Take care, Bruno

[runningwolfkenpo]

How long does it take to fly 600 miles or more?

[BigRedNZ1]

Also, do you ever slip the farmer a sorry note for squashing their crops?

[BigRedNZ1]

Nice example of decision making... although I'm not a pilot yet, we have a saying at work that "last option should not be the last decision"

Something I hope to remember while I'm learning to fly

[ENGEEEX]

@bviv It is certainly something i will do throughout my whole life. I might give it a shot after college :P Hopefully i secure up my flight time this summer so i can get the license

[snoobeagle]

@bviv ahh! Makes sense now. A big truck would be costly too. Thanks!

[lightlyone]

nice crop dusting! hee hee.