[blackdog]

Unfortunately, landing in a crop field(like alfalfa) is more expensive than a highway landing. The damage done to crops and the land from fuel spills, oil, flatbed tow trucks, and all the other emergency vehicles, is where the expression "bought the farm" came from.

I once ferried a Piper Dakota after it crash landed in a corn field. The corn was hard as hammers. All the leading edges were reskinned and I flew it out from the road along the field. The FAA issues a permit to ferry in such cases. The damage to the crop was in the $80,000 range. The airplane had about $20,000 in damage. Had the guy landed on the same road I took off from, the only damage would have been from media coverage.

At night, always take the road.

[niteowl77]

At night, always take the road.

One of the more enlightening o-rides a neophyte can have is going aloft at night, the pilot posing the question, "Where would we want to land if the engine quit?" A subsequent flight over the same terrain in daylight points out the power lines, cellular towers, trees, bluffs, flotsam and general jetsam.

When I was part of an aerostat launch/recovery crew, avoidance of crop damage was second only to personal safety in the hierarchy of concerns. A clumsy pilot can make a farmer's year.