Emergency Landing OK, but Not Takeoff

PW_Plack

Active Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Messages
8,573
Location
West Valley City, Utah, USA
We often hear folks here talk about the ability of gyroplanes to be landed safely after engines fail. Many pilots follow roads to preserve an additional emergency option. But we need to remember that while you won't likely be prosecuted for an emergency landing on a highway, that doesn't mean you'll be allowed to take off after repairs. You may even receive a bill!

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013...ion-sends-pilot-bill-after-emergency-landing/
 
And the govt continues to rip off aviation folks... and what do we do...

Stand by and say... Oh well.

There is no excuse for this profiteering by a govt... they are here to SERVE... and they are paid through tax $$$'s.

As I said in the thread about the new medical issue: When we just sit around and do nothing... our freedoms continue to be eroded.

One day, and we may see it, we will not be allowed to fly anymore.
 
Sometimes not the best choice.

Sometimes not the best choice.

In my opinion landing on a highway may not be the best choice because of traffic and wires.

I am familiar with the area and landing on the turnpike was probably his best choice.

The Appalachian Mountains and Monongahela River limit the ideal landing zones.

I am amazed he managed it without damaging anything.

We had a local pilot land his experimental on a rural highway near here and the California Highway Patrol blocked traffic while he took off. The engine stopped again and he hit a tree so the CHP may have rethought their policy.

In our recent flight of two helicopters to Camacho’s we flew near the highway so we would not have as long a walk in case of an unplanned landing without the ability to resume the flight.

Thank you, Vance
 
I mentioned my forced landing on 4 -lane highway back around 1986 in my Mac powered Bensen. It was my best choice for a landing spot, but I had to cut off traffic behind me and plop down in their lane


I left a little bit of momentum to coast off on the shoulder. As I was slowing the rotor down, the traffic was going around my rotor disc.....yikes!!.....I was sure someone would clip my rotor, but luck was with me.

I had to haul it home.

Stan
 
I don't have a problem with the fact that the guy was charged, or even the amount. I'm a pilot, but I'm also a taxpayer. In a perfect world, I'd love to see all the costs of highway administration paid for by the people who drive the costs.
 
I don't see it, really, how often does this happen, if an actual "Emergency" with no damage to State or private property. Generally emergencies offer few options and those with little spare time, spelled "no choice". What drives the cost is a over staffed, overpaid, under worked and over benefited Government bureaucracy.
 
You land on a public road and you expect the public to pay for the removal. A few of you have government-itis:boink:.
 
He should just forward the bill to his insurance company. It's a straight-forward liability coverage claim.

If he's flying without liability insurance, he's taking big risks every time he flies, and that's not a government issue. Any bozo can sue you for damage done or costs incurred as a result of your actions on/over private property; public property is not fundamentally different.
 
In Texas, at least, it's actually perfectly legal in some cases to land AND TAKEOFF *intentionally* on a county road. I looked it up.

In any event, it is perfectly legal to land on any road (at least, in Texas) if you as the pilot feel your life is in imminent danger and need to get it on the ground right now.
 
A friend of mine lost his engine on a go-around in a C-140. He took out a power line in the emergncy landing. He received a bill for over 3k. His insurance paid it. What I don't get in this PA case, is there was no damage done. Why was it necessary to mess with this guy and not just allow him to fly it out of there. Just my take on it.
 
Stan, as the old saying goes, all takeoffs are optional, but all landings are mandatory. It's not legal to take off from state highways in most places due to the hazard to drivers and, to paraphrase that old saying, there's no such thing as an emergency takeoff.
 
Is this a state highway or a privately owned turnpike? The way I read it, this was a privately owned turnpike who sent him a bill.
 
IMO regardless of who owns the road...

First Responders are salaried folks, and their salaries are part of a budget which a govt runs... which is supposed to be balanced WITHOUT beating up on everyone they think they can get away with.

Govt employees are supposed to work FOR the people, not rip them off... remember that thing called the Constitution? All we have to do is PUSH back, and they will get in line. There is a historical precedence of this in the USA.
 
The policy questions get a little murky if you take a broader perspective.
Should a boater who gets rescued by the Coast Guard, or a hiker who gets helicoptered out by the Sheriff after getting stuck in a storm in the mountains, have to repay all the costs of the rescue? And depending on how one answers those questions, should a pilot with an emergency be treated the same way for the costs incurred in the incident?

I'm not arguing in either direction here; just suggesting that the question might have wider impact than just this situation.
 
The issue I "fear" is... If we 'let' the govt decide to bill folks for this and that.... soon they will be billing us for everything... while still getting their (oversized) salaries from the tax pool.

And we know the $$$ will end up in anther 'hand out program'... to buy the votes of whom-ever they think they can.

Govt needs to learn to work WITHIN a budget... and just do without if they cannot afford it. After all, they are supposed to be serving the public, not ripping off the public every chance they get.

I remember during sequestration last summer... we kept hearing of top dogs at the IRS who commute half way across the country on commercial flights; salaries of dept leaders that went UP, elaborate parties catered by Chef Wolfgang Puck, etc, etc, etc... and ALL of this was being paid for by the federal govt...
While the parks were being closed.

There is definitely some wrong thinking here.... And IMO it will only change when the citizens push back (that is, make life uncomfortable for those who would waste tax $$$'s).

We are one of a very few countries in the world where the citizens have the power to push back... yet we just yawn and watch (or not even care) as we get ripped off again and again and again.
 
They ought not charge just as the Fire department should not charge you to put put a house fire, they are already funded through tax dollars.

In Ohio it is the Highway Patrol that investigates aircraft incidents/accidents, on or off State property, it's their job, obligated by law and already funded.
 
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