How to recover an ultralight aircraft off-field

by Gordon Dyck and Claude Roy, Ultralight Pilots Association of Canada (UPAC)

If you’ve been involved in an off-field aircraft recovery, you know that getting out of that position involves some unusual people skills. This article will help you understand what happens during the event and how to perform an off-field light aircraft recovery.

Let’s start by describing a scenario of what can happen to anyone flying for fun in a light private aircraft on a nice, sunny summer day.

Scenario 1

You are the pilot-in-command and alone aboard your own ultralight. You’re flying casually around your own hometown, within view of your own home airport. Suddenly, the engine quits.

Is it a mechanical break?
Some sort of fuel flow problem?
An electrical issue?

Who knows?! The fact is, you’re coming down at 500 ft per min, and you need to find a place to land. Forget about going back to the airport; you won’t make it.

Ultralights are slow and draggy. They also fly at low altitude, usually around 2,000 ft above ground. A stopped motor usually leaves you three minutes to react and land. That’s very little time for any “mayday” radio call, using a checklist, or restarting the engine.

Better to concentrate on your approach. Lucky for you, there’s a suitable field nearby and you land in it, dead stick.

Nobody notices you. The landing was good and would have been great if it wasn’t for the rough terrain that damaged your landing gear. But you made it in one piece, so you’re happy.

After making sure all the switches are off, you review your checklist to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything important. You get out of your plane, a little shaken, and you assess the situation, including the need to stop any oil or chemicals that have spilled onto the field.

Scenario 2

In another scenario, let’s say you have landed perfectly with no damage. As someone who does their own maintenance, you want to figure out why this engine stopped. You find something, the engine runs up, the field is big enough...

Stop right there. Do not be tempted to fly the aircraft out.

Failures typically occur through a series of faults, and you may have only found one. The field is no place to troubleshoot. It will take time, and it needs to be done in the hangar.

At this point, you can walk out of that field unhurt, but not your airplane. It will have to be carried out.

Nobody is coming towards you, so you’ll have to look for someone. Expect local police or firefighters to arrive. If they do, most will have zero experience with an off-field aircraft landing.

Be patient and explain what happened so they can write up their incident report. They will have to contact their superiors before they allow you to do anything. Once they have approval, the first responders will head back to work, leaving you by yourself to figure out how to recover your plane.

Recovering the plane: Day 1

Do you have your cell phone with you? Call your airport or the person you filed your flight itinerary/flight plan with and let them know that you’re safely on the ground. You could also send the preformatted message on your personal locator beacon.

You now need to find whoever owns the field you’re in. You walk to the closest house to your landing field and knock on the door.

The field owner may be there, but chances are you will speak to an intermediary. Make it clear that everything is safe and secure around the airplane, but also that you’ll need some help to get your airplane out. Then, return to the plane and further assess the situation.

Then you call your airport friends to figure out how and how soon you can get your airplane out of that field and back into your airport hangar.

Once the field owner arrives, things can get complicated. You are on their property, uninvited and unwanted. For the moment, you are tolerated, a novelty from the usual routine. People are curious about you and how you ended up in that field.

Be very polite with everyone. Listen carefully to everything they say, since you’re in a delicate legal position. You’ll need the field owner’s cooperation to get your airplane out of there.

At first, the owner is relieved you’re safe, the airplane is small, and it has so far done little damage to their crops. Tell the owner that you’ve already called for help, and you expect some friends to come and pick you up for a ride back to your car at the airport. Let them know that you’ll be back later in the day with a group of people to assess the situation and will remove the plane from their field.

At this point, the field owner may instruct you on how to remove the plane. Even if it is not quite how you would do it, try to go along with what they say. Remember that it is their field and their crop. There are many good reasons why the owner may have specific instructions for removing the plane.

You’re lucky to have three good friends who immediately agree to help you. They don‘t know where you are or how to get to the plane, so you meet them at the airport. From there, you drive back to the landing site.

Make sure to introduce your friends to the field owner(s) and anyone else who is with them.

Openly discuss and form a plan to remove the airplane. Make sure to decide when and how the work will be done. It will usually involve a vehicle with a flat trailer to remove the aircraft from its current position. Do everything you can to get the field owner to agree to your plan.

Tomorrow’s weather will be fair and dry, with light winds. If the forecast is bad, tie the aircraft down with the kit that you keep on board the aircraft or that you brought with you from the hangar. Your three friends confirm they are available to help you dismantle the wings from the aircraft and roll the fuselage to and onto the trailer.

Your day is done. Things are looking better, but you won’t get much sleep tonight.

Recovering the plane: Day 2

When you arrive the next morning, let the field owner know that you’re starting work right away. Expect to have a few onlookers join in, since watching an aircraft get dismantled is quite a sight. Be friendly and ready to entertain them with your aviation knowledge.

You and your crew need to be self-sufficient. Make sure you bring everything you need, including ground sheets, rope, and packing material. As you work on the plane, make sure not to spill any chemicals, like gas or antifreeze liquid, onto the field.

Onlookers will be watching your level of care around the plane. This is key to getting out of that field with minimal issues.

The wings are now off, and the fuselage is rolled to the trailer. The trailer may be far away, as this can limit the damage to the field. Ideally, you’ll want to leave the field looking like you never were there.

You may need two or three trips to the trailer. Two wings are bulky and there may be plenty of obstacles between the airplane and the trailer.

Once the airplane is back in the hangar, take your crew on a final trip to the field to make sure everything is back to its original condition. Make sure you do everything possible so there’s no trace of your landing and presence there.

Experience shows that farmers and field owners are good people. Do it right, be polite, and most field owners will let you recover your airplane with few problems.

If they’re interested in aviation, even better. People admire a flyer’s sense of daring. More often than not, people will want to participate in your adventure rather than hinder it.

Experience also shows that three out of four off-field landing experiences have a happy ending. When that happens, be ready to do something special for the field owner(s), like dropping a bottle of real champagne with a thank-you card, giving them a gift card to their favourite local restaurant, or inviting them for a flight later.

Make sure to thank the friends who helped you and be ready to help if anyone at the airport needs you and your newly minted off-field recovery expertise!

Happy flying!