LANDING OUT

In choosing a landing place, remember that any texture visible from aloft is far rougher than it looks.  The best fields appear perfectly smooth, yet even some that look like painted floors are unlandable.  Vegetation can be problematic, but many kinds of crop or brush will at least soften your touchdown and shorten the roll out.  Learn – in advance – as much as you can about crops in the area, and their probable depth.  Land parallel with any visible furrows wherever you can.  (A side hill can make this difficult to impossible!)  This one detail could make the difference between an uneventful landing and a destroyed aircraft, or even serious injury.Always land uphill rather than downhill, even in a tailwind - unless the wind is very strong or the slope is very slight.  Any slope detectable from a few hundred feet overhead is too steep for a safe downhill landing.  Subtleties of texture can also be helpful in detecting slopes that are not actually visible.  Look close for patterns of any kind, and use your imagination.  Small irregularities on the surface are much easier to see with a low sun angle late in the day (and that is also when you're most apt to be landing out).