TYPES OF EMERGENCY LANDINGS

The different types of emergency landings are defined as follows:

• Forced landing—an immediate landing, on or off an airport, necessitated by the inability to continue further flight.

  A typical example of which is an airplane forced down by engine failure.

• Precautionary landing—a premeditated landing, on or off an airport, when further flight is possible but inadvisable. A precautionary landing differs from the forced landing in the availability of power and aircraft systems. It is, generally, less hazardous than a forced landing because the pilot has more time for terrain selection and the planning of the approach. In addition, the pilot can use power to compensate for errors in judgment or technique. The landing site will be at the earliest opportunity.

  • Examples of conditions that may call for a precautionary landing include deteriorating weather, being lost, fuel shortage, gradually developing engine trouble, darkness approaching faster than anticipated (when the pilot does not have night flying experience).

• Ditching—a forced or precautionary landing on water.

• Weather, as described above, may make it impossible to land at all nearby aerodromes, perhaps.
• The landing surface nearby may be a dry, flat field or perhaps a disused aerodrome, making an off-airport landing safer, however, if it is a built up city, more chance of the pilot trying to continue out of that area.
• Nature of the emergency is self-explanatory. A fuel problem, increasing engine trouble, etc. does not require the aircraft to be on the ground immediately, whereas an uncontrollable fire does.
• If an aircraft is close to a suitable aerodrome, the choice will likely be made to land there, even if that means carrying some technical issues further. If many minutes or hours flight away from one, an off-airport landing may be required.