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Departure from a motorway - would this be allowed in Europe?

A friend of mine in Munich landed his C172 Reims Rocket in a privately owned field once and described himself to me as “very lucky” to resolve the issue and fly out before the police arrived. That was his perspective on off field landings in Germany. On the other hand it is common practice in Germany to close an entire autobahn for an extended period to investigate a simple accident, so I suppose maybe with a great deal of discussion and many approvals it would possible to fly off that same road.

Another friend of mine in central Italy managed to get his Range Rover stuck in a privately owned field there and was petrified that the Carabinieri would come before he could get it out. I have no idea what the police reaction there would be to a plane on a remote road, I’m guessing it would depend on the individuals involved.

Last Edited by Silvaire at 16 Sep 16:31

Peter wrote:

Some additional info which many will find amusing: Ran out of fuel after taking off from an airport 15 minutes away, landed on the interstate, refueled and took off later. 15 mins! I guess this proves homeopathy is a valid human enterprise.

It seems like the aircraft should only have been allowed to fly out with a different pilot!

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

Airborne_Again wrote:

It seems like the aircraft should only have been allowed to fly out with a different pilot!

My assumption it was either a PR stunt? or the guy had “low fuel indication” when he did not expect it and decided to land and check it visually if bogus of serious? let say you have that scenario what to do*?

EX17 is part of PPL syllabus but probably poor choice of field, I am not sure about his takeoff though?
Stupid, luck, error? at the end of the day aircraft & pilot are in one piece

*As with all incidents/accidents, it’s easy to explain things after facts but I would rather think about the scenario and what to do before flying, as pilot IQ goes to zero when the propeller is turning

Last Edited by Ibra at 16 Sep 17:26
Paris/Essex, France/UK, United Kingdom

Airborne_Again wrote:

It seems like the aircraft should only have been allowed to fly out with a different pilot!

Why? He won’t do that (running out of fuel) again, at least not so soon, perfectly safe!

Biggin Hill

I remember a Pa28, experienced PPL, practicing circuits, running out of fuel because the gascolator fuel drain was open.
Collecting our Jodel DR1050 after an Annual while it was a CAA aircraft, there was a large drop of fuel from the gascolator at each hand turn of the prop. I left it to be fixed. With 4 hours fuel, I might have run out on the 1 hour flight home.

Maoraigh
EGPE, United Kingdom

Unfortunately this is not a technical issue it is a cultural one. In Europe the authorities are driven by an attitude of extreme job protection and the easy answer to any problem in “no”.

The No answer is always the safe one and all sorts of reasons can be found to support it.

A_and_C wrote:

In Europe the authorities are driven by an attitude of extreme job protection and the easy answer to any problem in “no”.

Although I too get that impression sometimes, I think LeSving just disproved that.

huv
EKRK, Denmark

A_and_C wrote:

In Europe the authorities are driven by an attitude of extreme job protection and the easy answer to any problem in “no”.

Although I too get that impression sometimes, I think LeSving just disproved that (post 07 above).

huv
EKRK, Denmark

Peter wrote:

AFAIK they would require the aircraft to be dismantled and carted out on a pickup truck. But maybe not in every country…

No reason at all not to start from motorway in Europe. You most probably need to close the road anyways for safe dismantling and putting it on a trailer so a start from the spot would actually reduce interference with the traffic significantly.

The only thing one might be ask to do differently is to taxi slowly under the sign and bridge and start the takeoff run only after these obstacles – but that would have been a great idea in the US as well from operational safety POV…

Other thing is intentional landing on a highway: While my own experience says this is a non issue in Alaska, I wouldn’t try it in Germany ;-)

Germany

Malibuflyer wrote:

The only thing one might be ask to do differently is to taxi slowly under the sign and bridge and start the takeoff run only after these obstacles – but that would have been a great idea in the US as well from operational safety POV…

The question is, do you know what’s past that bridge and sign? Power cables? More signs / overpasses? Sweeping bends? From that point of view, I’m not sure I see the risk of accelerating under the bridge / sign – better to do that than to accelerate after and take off, hitting power cables – one of my friends hit a single power or communications cable whilst he was coming in to do a forced landing; he said he never knew what he hit until in the hospital they told him what he’d done, said they are pretty hard to spot. He can be grateful that he’s still with us after that incident, his plane just dropped out of the sky, fortunately the mud below was soft…

Hmm… not ‘dropped’. Plummeted, as some sensationalist press reporters might claim….. no puppy farms were in the vicinity though…..

Last Edited by Steve6443 at 17 Sep 08:33
EDL*, Germany
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