Causes of Forced Landings

[szicree]

Having read too many mentions of forced landings, I'd like to start a thread to simply collect them all in one place. If you've had one, it'd be great if you could post here with as much detail as possible about the cause and what might have prevented it? It's my hope that I may learn from the mistakes of others and keep my plane out of the dirt. Thanks.

[1SeventyZ]

Too much sausage and coffee at breakfast....

[wannafly]

had an electrical connector fail once. The kind you slip over the bolt and tighten with a nut. It was a cheap alluminum one...all steel from now on. It broke off on the kill switch and touch the frame. Instant engine off...800 feet off the ground on takeoffgood thing the hay field I left from was 160 acres...landed with no issues. Was amazed how long it took to find it...

[Slyfox]

forward stick movement without any back movement.

[szicree]

had an electrical connector fail once. The kind you slip over the bolt and tighten with a nut. It was a cheap alluminum one...all steel from now on. It broke off on the kill switch and touch the frame. Instant engine off...800 feet off the ground on takeoffgood thing the hay field I left from was 160 acres...landed with no issues. Was amazed how long it took to find it...

Can I assume that this engine had only one ignition system?

[wannafly]

yes it was a subaru back then

[HighWing]

Mine was a low oil pressure indication that prompted a precautionary landing in not great terrain. There was something in the oil tank that blocked the pick up tube.

FYI - be careful when setting down in unfamiliar terrain. We were in the Sierra foothills and chose a clearing surrounded by trees. We decided to land in a direction away from the river and powerlines, not realizing we were on the other side of a hill and trying to find the ground as it sloped away from us. We were approaching oak trees at the edge of the clearing and forced a stall.

[kitfoxvixen9095]

In my case it was pilot/preflight error. Series 5 Kitfox, went out for a late evening short flight, one tank had about 4 gallons and the other maybe 5. I was only planning on about an hour flight all close to my airport so off i went. About 45 minutes into the flight I was flying at about 800 agl and she went silent. this is one of those times where we realize we've got someone watching out for us, i had just made the decision to turn east and fly over a friends house rather than turning west which would have taken me over some bad terrain including a couple small lakes. Fortunately my friends house included a runway which i was able to make a 180 degree turn, slip and land on. The problem was that the only tank that got turned on was the one with only 4 gallons of fuel and my header tank low fuel warning light had failed!!! It was one of those in a hurry, not long till dark, etc etc... mistakes. In my case it all turned out ok but it could have been not so pretty!! The surprising thing was the lack of panic when it happened, i remember my knees starting to knock but not till after i was on the ground. Just remember...PREFLIGHT...

[Slyfox]

talk about fuel warning light. I remember a few years ago on my way back from arlington air show and the engine went quiet. Seems I forgot to switch tanks and one went empty. I quickly switched tanks, really not knowing what the cause was, and the wife said, what do we do know, I came back with, if it doesn't start back up soon I'll turnback and land on the road behind us. Well it kicked and started back up. After making it back home I ordered up the low fuel the same day. The one I have is the float type, which I like very much for the way I check it is to grab a wing on the ground and rock the airplane and look at the light on the dash for it to come on and off. system checked. It's also amazing that particularly the right tank with the vent will stop flowing at 3 gal left in the tank. Got to watch that one.

[Russell320]

My speedster does the exact same thing. Low fuel light came on with what I thought was plenty of fuel in the right tank. Landed ASAP and fueled. That tank won't feed as well. My fuel light works great though.