Pilot lands on highway instead of at Grand Canyon Airport

[SteveCostello]

Wasn't there a student pilot a while ago who landed a Cirrus on a residential street, with mailboxes and all? The street was ~3 miles from the runway and not quite aligned with it.

Ah, yes, here it is:
http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=f031d0b1-291b-445f-b3a3-dbb96a32aa45

One of the mysteries of aviation; why did that pilot land there/do that/pull back on that stick shaker/etc.

Yeah... the lack of common sense here is pretty astounding. "We land here all the time..." Right. Which means that on short final, you should probably have started to wonder why they replaced all of the runway edge lights with mailboxes...

There should be some sort of way to measure common sense and the ability to think on your feet (seat?). Fail that, and no flying for you. Seriously.

 

[The Fez]

Has anyone else been tempted to do a touch and go on a really long, straight road?

Long straight road? I just need a space big enough to park a school bus with bushes/trees no taller than 6 feet or so.

Oh, wait. You mean land an airplane. Nevermind.

 

[Minuteman]

Look, when I said I was done flying for the day I'm flippin' done right here!

 

[KHanson]

He looks a little right of centerline.

Have 2 more drinks. He's spot on centerline. ;-)

 

[MikeD]

Someone's going VFR direct to a 709 ride.....

 

[TallFlyer]

First time I ever landed at the city strip in Cordova (actually, the only time) some random person told me that to get any gas you had to get on the road and taxi a quarter mile into town. Mind you, to get to parking you had to cross the road from the strip.

 

[Oxman]

If it was in New York, they'd be holding him as a terrorist right now, and he'd be arrested on a dozen charges. (And they'd probably be beating the snot out of him...)

and your point is?

 

[TwoTwoLeft]

Has anyone else been tempted to do a touch and go on a really long, straight road?

When you gotta go, you gotta go....

 

[popaviator]

Once he realized his mistake he should have done a touch and go and landed at the right airport lol

 

[SteveCostello]

Yeah. If I ever manage to actually land somewhere I shouldn't (not gonna say it'll never happen, because - you know... obviously it can, as evidenced by the rash of posts here about people doing just that), and no one is really around to see it? I ain't sticking around and letting anyone know.

Again... that common sense thing.

 

[tomokc]

"Ah, Tower, are those runway lights up all the way?"

 

[Inverted25]

I've never landed on a road but I have landed a super cub in friends backyards in the country around here. I always checked with local authorities first though to make sure they didn't have a local ordinance against it.

 

[SteveCostello]

I've considered improving part of my wife's grandfather's farmland about 1.5 hour drive from here to make it suitable for landing a 172. Not sure what it would take, but that would greatly increase the frequency that we'd go out there (it's a recreational, not operational, farm). 30 minutes in the air vs. 1.5 hours on the road? Yes, please.

 

[mshunter]

Who said drinking and flying was bad? Not me!

When you land on a road on purpose, whatever do what you want. When you land on a road on accident, WTF!?! See what happens when you run over square....

 

[Inverted25]

I've considered improving part of my wife's grandfather's farmland about 1.5 hour drive from here to make it suitable for landing a 172. Not sure what it would take, but that would greatly increase the frequency that we'd go out there (it's a recreational, not operational, farm). 30 minutes in the air vs. 1.5 hours on the road? Yes, please.

you better check with local town ordinances first. I know at my uncles house he wanted to put in a grass strip but the township he lived in would t allow it

 

[SteveCostello]

Thanks for the reminder. I looked into it a few months ago to see if it was even plausible from a legal perspective, and that was one of the things that came out of that research. If I did do this, it would happen several years down the road. So I've got some time

 

[rframe]

you better check with local town ordinances first. I know at my uncles house he wanted to put in a grass strip but the township he lived in would t allow it

What grass strip? That's a pasture.

 

[TwoTwoLeft]

What grass strip? That's a pasture.

Exactly. There are times where its better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. This would be one of those times...

 

[rwgb1984]

Who said drinking and flying was bad? Not me!

This coming from the Russian...

 

[rwgb1984]

Maybe he thought he could just pull the plane into the driveway of his friend's house...

Edit: I was thinking: if I was like "Oh snap this is a road not a runway!" I'd probably just take off unless I was low on fuel or something. If they didn't see it, it's not illegal!

"What seems to be the problem officer?"