Surviving an emergency forced landing is more about managing the energy of your aircraft, from flying at altitude at a given safe airspeed, to being on the ground, at zero ground speed, and, as far as possible, without rupturing the aircraft fuel tanks in the process.
It so happens that trees are the most prolific as well as the best energy-absorbing ‘obstacles’ that can be used for absorbing the kinetic energy of an aircraft, when in a largely horizontal orientation and flying close to stall speed!
FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees provides pilots with multiple additional potentially life-saving emergency forced landing options when traditional emergency forced landing options are few.
https://av8torsafety.com/flit/
Take the FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees online training here: https://av8torsafety.com/courses/flit/
Developing FLIT-Vision🌲 is one way of ensuring a more positive human outcome when encountering an emergency forced landing: https://av8torsafety.com/flit/#flit_vision
Pinwheel Effect & Virtual Crumple Zone
Core to multiple FLIT Maneuvers is the PINWHEEL Effect.
Read more about the PINWHEEL Effect here: https://av8torsafety.com/flit/pinwheel-effect/
Using the PINWHEEL Effect a pilot is able to:
- Significantly reduce the Horizontal Kinetic Energy (EK-H) of the aircraft
- Cause the aircraft to SPIN, keeping the pilot and passengers at the centre, and using the engine, empennage and wings to absorb the remaining energy, through deforming as objects are struck
- Through spinning the aircraft, the PIC and PAX (being at the centre, with a radius of near-zero) are kept largely ‘out of harms way’, through both the creation of a Virtual Crumple Zone, as well we reducing the rotational kinetic energy of the pilot and passengers to close to zero.
The video (below) shows precisely how the PINWHEEL Effect works by absorbing energy from the initial impact and then converting the remaining energy into rotational and translational energy, which is then absorbed by the engine, wings, and empennage as the aircraft spins, leaving the pilot and passengers largely unaffected in the CENTRE of the spinning aircraft.
This video includes a case study in which the PINWHEEL Effect is powerfully used, leaving PIC/PAX without any injuries!
https://av8torsafety.vplay.media/watch/MTI2MzA4Nw==
John Comley is a pilot, civil structural engineer, and author of FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees