Thursday 11th July 2024. I managed to get to cloudbase after 5pm. I tried to go XC to Hereford, but only got half way. I got told off for landing in someone's field.
During a flexwing fly-in even here in the USA, one of our friends experienced an engine out and put it down in a field much like the one in this video. The radio call went out, and I was the nearest pilot, so I turned towards the location being called out, and went to make sure he was alright. When I flew over, our friend had set the aircraft down safely and was already talking to the farmer who had come out to greet him. By the time I landed, the sun was about to set, and other friends with trucks and trailers made their way to pick the downed pilot up.........only to find that he, the farmer and family where all having dinner, over some cold beers as our pilot buddy told them flying stories. : )
I've experienced this myself as a former glider pilot. I doesn't matter how empty or deserted or seemingly abandoned the field you land in might be, someone will nearly always have I derisory comment to make. I remember waiting for my retrieve crew one day when an elderly gentleman came past. Seeing the glider he looked at me and said 'Oh, ran out of petrol have we?' I summoned up my best French accent and replied 'Non electricity monsieur.' He wandered off mouthing 'Bloody foreigners!' under his breath.
In many years flying sailplanes (in Australia), I never met an unfriendly farmer, although I have heard of one or two. Usually offered drinks and dinner while waiting for the retrieve crew. On one occasion, the farm family included a lad of about four, and quite some years later, I was training apprentice technicians hundreds of Km from there, and one of them turned out to be him.
@@pawepluta4883 Terrible problems with venomous/aggressive animals. I just turned 79, and I was once stung by a bee, admittedly as I stepped on it. We all live in constant fear.
I’m a farmer, I’ve had 2 balloons land in my fields over the years. Both times they have landed on grass not in an arable crop. They gave me a bottle of wine . I don’t see a reason to get angry ,in fact it’s quite fun to see
Two decades ago an helicopter crash landed on my father's farm, they even had to repair it in the field! Unfortunately they made a promise to take some pictures from the air and (maybe) a joy ride that never came through :/
I chose to trespass on a farmers field in order to get my family (two young children) to a national trust woods we could walk round. The default way to get there was on a main road. My wife was panicking we were going to get into trouble. I was just hoping to meet an understanding farmer like yourself. Ended up being no bother as we met no one.
@@hollow34 I don’t blame you for keeping your kids off the road,I have small children and understand your predicament .I have a few footpaths on my land,often people stray from the footpath by accident as it’s not entirely clear. One day a couple was walking the wrong side of the fence on a field I was baling,the sun was in my eyes and I could not see them until the last second! They kept on going regardless of what I was doing. Just keep in mind that farms are an industrial zone with many large and dangerous machines ,and sometimes herds of cows and calves, also people shooting occasionally . Take responsibility for yourself and you won’t go far wrong.
When I went on a balloon flight the operator had a paper map with various areas marked in red, which were landowners known to be hostile to them and they do everything they can to not land there. When we landed and we had folded the balloon up he went off towards the farmhouse with a bottle of whisky in hand 😁
I landed out in my LS4 near Midhurst. The farmer was most welcoming. I even gave him £20 to buy himself a crate of beer as a thank you from me. He said "why not, its friday after all!"
Hi Dan great videos. In training we were told if we accidentally land in crop to mushroom our wing and carefully walk to the edge of the field or gateway to pack. The light fabric of the wing doesn’t actually flatten or damage any crop when landing but on packing mid crop we could flatten quite a bit. Ps. Love the vids
Where I live, I have to have a 3rd party insurance to fly, so the things like this can be resolved. Yes, the farmers might be unhappy, but if there is any damage they will be made whole by the insurance.
In the US, one farmer sued the glider for crop damage. It was on the Judge Judy show. The farmer had a detailed calculation of how he arrived at the amount, which was $700. The glider pilot gladly paid the bill.
Yes. I was apologetic and I listened to his worries. He had some valid reasons for not wanting me landing there, but I don't want to list them in public as I respect his privacy. I think he really appreciated me hearing his concerns and understanding his rights to his private land. I think once he understood that I had run out of options, he didn't feel so bad. He was content that I won't be landing there again. :)
Honestly, i may have had the same immediate reaction as the Farmer/landowner. But after you explained i would have sent you on your way with a cuppa and a smile!
I only had that once in over 25 years of flying, two of us landed in a field near llanwrst, the farmer cam over and did his nut, as he was berating us two other pilots landed by us he threw his arms in the air and stormed off saying why my field lol
Nice flight! I thought is was only here in the USA that some land owners where grumpy when we land on their property. I fly a paramotor, so we only land when we have a motor out. Usually after we say it was an "emergency landing" the land owner cools off a bit, sometimes. Stay safe!
Just playing devil’s advocate here. A question to all you flyers of ‘something’ How would you like it if people just randomly walked through your garden or even through the front door of your house and out the back door?
In Scotland The Land Reform Act 2003 gives everyone rights of access over land and inland water throughout Scotland, subject to specific exclusions set out in the Act and as long as they behave responsibly. These rights are sometimes referred to as 'freedom to roam'.
Not the same though is it? Your analogy would be more appropriate as "would you flip out if kids walked into your front yard to retrieve their frisbee". Both the landing and getting the frisbee are unplanned, incidental events, unlike someone walking through your house.
@@cragonaut I appreciate what your saying, however, and correct me if I’m wrong, is there a certain acceptance when you go up in a paraglider or similar that your landing zone is not always planned or predetermined. Or to put it another way, If I go for a drive in my car, I’m 100% certain I can arrive at my pre-determined destination without encroaching on private property, however with paragliders been heavily influenced by wind and thermals you accept the fact that you wont always hit your preferred landing zone, and there is potential (whether that be high or low) for landing on private property. To use your frisbee analogy, it may have landed in my garden accidently however if they are throwing it from the garden to my left over my garden to the garden on my right then the chances of it landing it my garden are quite high and this would have been known and accepted by the throwers before they started. In which case, if they then went into my garden without asking, yes I would be annoyed.
There was a time when our unusual but very interesting hobbies and sports would illicit a more friendly response from landowners and passers by. I have so far not had an engine failure but one day I may have to land for safety in a farmers field and if I do I could be subjected to an unhelpful or aggressive response. We can plan for wind direction, avoiding animals, structures, power lines etc but you cant choose the characters of those who own or work the land.All we can do is be polite, apologise and offer to pay for any reasonable damage if any.
He has got a point tbh, your hobby is one of those that does have some sort of effect on others, I realise that effect in this case was only the landowner needing to open a gate but nevertheless
I actually agree with the guy. As a paramotor pilot we can fly pretty much over whatever we want but as soon as we touch ground we are trespassing. I definitely wouldn't want someone just landing on my land and just walking through my property to a locked gate. I would be pretty upset. You land and get attacked by my bees..... Who's fault is that and how would it be handled. You land and a cow runs you over.... How would that be handled?
I don't see why you would be upset about that. I've never understood shit like this. My family has land, if someone lands or walks in my land, as long as he doesn't cause any damage, I don't see why I should be upset. If they came near my house that would be another story, but in the middle of a field? Come on, what damage can they do? Even if it's cropped they won't do any major damage. If they get hurt, it's on them (or at least it should).
@@lucavastano but are you running operations there? Do you have a livestock that can be deadly in multiple ways? Do you have livestock that can jump fences and so on? We live in a world where you can get sued for anything and there is no reason for anyone to be around what I'm doing.
@@MrBigjoecincy no, and I can perfectly see why someone wouldn't want to risk that, but if I'm landing without causing any damage or risking to injure myself, I don't see why someone should be upset about it. I also don't agree with the law that states that the owner of the land should be responsible for damages to any person who trespasses. We all should be responsible for ourselves
@@lucavastano I agree the world shouldn't be the way it is but I think it's safer to just keep it simple for everyone and leave no Grey area and just say no trespassing. Pretty easy to understand and it's clear black and white. The world is complex right now because of all the grey that has been created letting this slid here and that slid there. Things need to be more black and white. My land, no trespassing. Your land no trespassing. When you leave it grey you then give wiggle room to someone that might actually want to do harm. The way my bees are sitting right now 1 hive is about 1000 bucks and they are known to be stolen all the time. You give a little wiggle room for someone to be on your land and the next thing you know that will be their excuse if they are caught. Black and white... Simple.
@@MrBigjoecincy Your preaching to the doomed here! Most of these guys see no issue with using your land as their personal landing area, they will use the term “forced” or “emergency “ landing to justify their lack of planning! As a paramotor pilot you know these terms are normally used due to mechanical,health or weather situations. Would a paramotor pilot intentionally take-off with less fuel than required to get you to your destination? probably not. If a paraglider pilot pooched a landing and paralyzed himself they all say they wouldn’t sue you but you know they would! Or if a prized bull got spooked and injured itself I think many of these guys would try to get away without getting caught. Unfortunately people who have the mentality of “we can land anywhere we like” will get their sport more and more regulated. I have over 40 years as a commercial pilot and every year the regulations become more and more restrictive, I hope the yahoos in your sport don’t ruin it for all the others.
I've had exactly the same experience. I missed a thermal and landed in a grassy field with no livestock or crops, only to be welcomed by a very angry farmer. I caused no damage, packed up quickly and was respectful of his land. Quite a scary experience. England should adopt the same right-to-roam laws that Scotland have.
I think you will find that as an aircraft you have a right to land anywhere when you are in trouble. No thermal means you are going down and you have a duty to land as safely as possible and if that means you can land in a farmers field or anywhere else for that matter.
@@waynemanning3262a forced landing is not the same as intentionally walking, plus it isn't their back yard, it's clearly a large open field at least a few hundred metres from any building
@@KingJellyfishII so private property is less private depending on how big it is? And your forced landing starts the second you step off your departure point. Only skill or luck gets you to your chosen destination and in this clip he had neither. To rely on luck for lift is foolish, perhaps they should talk to more area landholders for prior permission to eliminate possible confrontations.
@@waynemanning3262 yes absolutely, there's a huge difference in privacy between an immediate garden of your house and a field. why on earth do you care if someone lands on a field you own way out away from anyone? In scotland we have this law that is basically if someone owns land say a field that's not right next to their house then you have a right to access it, as long as you don't cause any damage. It makes Scotland a nicer, more open country and almost everyone (including land owners) support it. of course skill and luck are involved. You can also argue you need skill and luck to avoid a forced landing in an airliner, albeit the chance of something going wrong is much lower. At the end of the day it's a sport which people enjoy and I don't think we should prevent them on the basis of some petty selfish grounds that they don't own the land, when they're not damaging it.
Thanks, enjoyed your flight. The farmers reaction was understandable, as soon as he knew the situation he was fine. Unfortunately framers face all sorts of challenges with some people (vegetarians, vegans, animal liberationists etc) all wanting to cause problems or worse on a property. As a farmer, flyer and hunter I’ve seen both sides, being open and polite is the key.
I don't know how it is elsewhere in the world but in the USA the prevailing attitude is "It's easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission." That coupled with the propensity for litigation has landowners on edge (and sometimes armed!). We're not all like that but if your out-landing had happened here, the interaction likely would have been a bit more intense.
Farmers are the same **** almost everywhere... That said, I had an 80s something Swiss farmer march over to me (me expecting an earful about the massive damage to his grass) only for him to spend 25 min chatting about what wing I was flying (Enzo3) and about his 20 years in the air too - super nice 👍
If you land in a farmer's field in France, he comes out with his lovely daughter, a bottle of wine, some bread and cheese, then gives you a ride back to launch.
Strikes me that if your hobby relies on the goodwill of other people then you don't have a right to get upset when they are not happy about being involved in it without consent.
Be careful, there could be German forces in the hedgerows. Wow that looks so much like Sainte-Marie-du-Mont from the air. I would love to visit England someday. What a beautiful country.
It goes two ways….A landowner will be rightfully upset if damage is caused, but there are some landowners are total a*holes and they will create a big scene just for daring to be on their remote mostly untended property.
The app ( XCGuide ) on my phone uses GPS to store a track log ( .igc ) file, which I can convert to .kmz ( github.com/twpayne/igc2kmz.py ) and view with Google Earth. I select the coloured by climb rate option. The altitude is just from the GPS.
Well.. The property owner was absolutely correct. You can't just land anywhere you want. You'd need a fully operational paramotor engine and sufficient fuel to do that. No aviator anywhere really gets to 'land anywhere they want'. Only avians can do that! :) Since your not the latter.. you had to land in his field. In a glider.. .every landing is "forced". :D
Would be nice to put a card in the post for the field owner apologizing for the inconvenience and an offer for a pint at the local pub. Can never have enough friends and you never know if your gonna end up in that field again 😉
Unfortunate but the chances are that the more you fly then the odds shorten and it will happen to you. I suggest you carry some cash in the form of a legal bank note. Offer it as compensation, in a way its a rental payment. Just watch a few audit u tube vids and you will see how sensitive some are about property even if its open to public sight. A growing hobby is causing concern to land owners, metal detecting. If the word gets out about a valuable find in a field there are " nighthawks and day scavengers" who rush to a site and without any permission attempt to find items.
I have a vario ( a variometer ), which beeps when my altitude is increasing. It senses difference in air pressure to do this. As I get higher, I can't tell visually if I'm climbing, so I need the vario. It might sound annoying, but it is a sound of joy to me. :)
Depends on the tone of voice and body language, couldn't see/hear any of it but if you're like me, you'll return the energy that you receive and so he must have been very polite. Otherwise, someone barking "you can't just land where ever you like" would have been met with "you can't just talk to who ever you like"
Mate of mine had his hangie skewered by a bale spike by a farmer, it wasnt even his land, hangie destroyed, farmer tried to blame his neighbour, it ended in court with the farmer paying for the damage. You get good and bad but mostly a positive reception, so long as you keep away from livestock and cultivated land, as i told people when i was a coach, always pick the safe option to land, you can pay for damages later, not that i am in any way condoning landing where damage can result, broken backs are for life.
3:53 - I assume this is the stage where you explain that you didn't intent landing there... His body language tells me, that's not good enough and he expects a toll
just an idea.. but i do wonder if anyone had ever thought about specially prepared ground to induce thermal lift.. so you might have.. say, .. 1/2 miles squared of black surface surrounded by 5 mile squared of white surface,
We've had a couple of hot-air balloons come down in our fields over the years and never had a problem with them doing so. So long as they make a bit of an effort to avoid crops and livestock it isn't a problem, one came down in a paddock full of ponies and the only problem the balloonists had was some very interested nags trying to see what was going on. You do hear stories though, one farmer nearby threatened to sue the air ambulance for landing in one of his fields, there wasn't even any crop for it to damage or livestock to spook, and they actually saved a life as a result. But he is a complete tw-t.
They can say what they like. Half of this country is fuck as thick, 52%, so you'll get weird ideas like doing what they like and fcuk what anyone thinks. Have to accept the consequences of your actions once you aren't a child. I this case the landowner didn't sound too bad at all, let him pack up in the field. Not really sure what the video is for but to divide
While it might seem strange to some. The laws in the US make it the owners liability if anyone gets hurt on their land. Which can lead to claims for medical damages.
Worth pointing out that there's no crime of trespass when you land from the air. Provided you pack up your kit and vacate the field immediately, that's allowed. If however you leave the field and then return to get your gear, then that is when trespass becomes an issue.
Poor old farmers most have 500+ acres and dare you to land on a square foot he’s pissed off ! Luckily our farmers in the village are paramotor flyers and I fly model paramotor and he’s not bothered one bit
I'm not a pilot, and I don't know what the rules are, by I'm with the farmer. Surely you should only be able to land on a site for which you have permission, and to do otherwise is trespassing. "I had hoped to go further" isn't good enough.
You are right. It is trespassing. I won't be landing there again. I know I don't have a right to land wherever I want. I usually manage to find somewhere to land where I don't upset anyone. If I understand the weather well enough, I can fly 100km with no engine and just the contents of my rucksack and land exactly where I choose. Sometimes, though, I get it wrong and run out of options. This is an example of this.
Shame you didn’t educate him, that without any means of ascending other than dynamic or thermal, you can land wherever it’s safe, or not to do so, if need be
@@waynemanning3262 Well, I've been flying for over a decade and we consider a loss of lift a forced landing- especially on XC. Sometimes, you make the wrong decision and sink out. That is the nature of free flight and the regulators see no need to alter the regs.
@@flightographist over 33,000 hrs and 43 years of flying here in Canada and I beg to differ! If I flew around and bypassed numerous proper landing sites that’s called irresponsible! I watch parasailors and gliders all the time and see them land in the same fields all the time. If you can’t catch a thermal or ridge lift you should be high enough or near enough to make an approved field not just land in any field you chose. Anything else is just piss poor planning! If skydivers kept landing in any old place Transport Canada would have their operation shut down, and by your definition every parachute landing is a forced landing.
