Normally if you do a forced landing, somebody has to come along with a trailer, take the wings off, etc, pull the “wreckage” onto the trailer and then reassemble it at some airport.
The labour costs alone are several k as a minimum and the disruption to the aircraft is considerable, and that assumes no extra damage was done.
Is there a reason why one rarely sees helicopters retrieve this stuff, as an underslung load?
Problems with wings of aircraft producing lift as helicopter moves? Problem with downdraft, especially on lowering the load back on to the ground?
There was an incident where they tried to retrieve a DR400 with a helicopter. It started swinging and to save his life, the helicopter pilot had to drop the aircraft, destroying it beyond repairability. We have once transported a C310Q with a helicopter, but the aircraft suffered major damage to fuselage and wings during transport. My (limited) experience says that disassembling the aircraft is less prone to substantial damage.
I was involved in this one about 4 years ago. Bearing-in mind that underslinging requires a specific CAA approval (normally part of an AOC approval) and that no one in their right mind would do it with anything less than a twin turbine, the costs are normally eye watering. I think this particular move, which was only about 10nm from field to airfield, cost something in the region of £8-10K.
I’ve pulled lots of airplanes apart, and its not a big job if you have the right gear with you. An average single engine airplane (even a P210) you can have loaded up with two men in a day. The easiest one of all was an Ercoupe. Loaded in about 2 hours, taxying it around like a little noddy car later than evening with the wings off. Putting them back together takes a lot more time. You could safely say it is 3-4x times the job of taking one apart. Some airplanes like a Rallye would be a lot more work to get the slats rigged and wings shimmed.
As for a biplane or a twin, then that’s a bigger job. Engines would need to come off a twin, and make stands to bolt onto the engine mounting points. I imagine certain aircraft, like a GA7 cougar could only be shifted by helicopter. I’ve heard of a seaplane in scotland lifted off rocks by helicopter too…..
A Swiss instructor friend had his Supercub blown off the side of a mountain during attempted helicopter recovery…….
I reckon insurers would happily pay 10k for a helicopter retrieval. Putting the plane back together straight is going to cost thousands anyway.
However I vaguely recall one such scenario where it was impossible to get insurance cover for the transport. Unfortunately I don’t remember the details. And if you can’t get insurance, it isn’t going to happen.
If I were lucky enough to find a field and land intact, disassembly, transport and reassembly would cost a few hundred for truck rental and fuel. A friend did it last May. In that case, he rented a large truck one-way and transported the plane 400 miles home. People at the local airport helped load the plane. In nearby cases there is an EAA Chapter owned trailer available for a small donation, nominally intended for use in transporting homebuilts to the airport for their first flight. A helicopter would be an outlandish solution (pun intended) unless the plane is far from a road.
Another local guy had an EFATO-ish event with his Europa a while ago, landing on a main road a couple of miles from the field. It was back in his hangar before lunch. On either of my planes the wings can be removed in an hour. My concern would most definitely not center on the aircraft transport issue, I’m much more concerned about my health after the forced landing!
I’d guess price and appropriate hooks on the upper side of the plane.
Prohibitively expensive and quite high risk.
In some cases preparing a makeshift runway and fly it out is cheaper….
