.....first find a big field!
My son's latest 'adventure'.
thank God everyone is OK.
His girlfriend said she was scared, until the 'mayday mayday' bit and then she just closed her eyes, convinced she was gonna die! 
Lordy CG and I thought mine was a nightmare. Thank goodness they are both ok.
Eeerm, how did/do they get the plane out of the field?
The little boy in the picture was in the plane too. She said my son was so calm that the boy didn't realise anything was wrong until it was a very bumpy landing.
That's the farmer in the field, and two police women. When the mechanic has fixed the engine the farmer will cut a runway through the corn for it to take off again.
He didn't tell me it had happened until yesterday, it happened Saturday, so he had to make his journey (Oxford and then Portsmouth) by car instead.
He's some man - it's not put him off then? - no, thought not 
Nothing puts him off anything! As far as I know he was up there again today.
How children change. His daughter doesn't like flying home (when he goes and gets her from school at the weekends) because she's allowed to use the iPad on the journey. By car it's about 5 hours. By plane it's only one hour!!
My point exactly - you don't need megabucks to get a pilot's licence. As I said, to some people owning or being part owner of a single seater aircraft is an absolute essential. Running costs are proportionate to what aircraft it is. There are literally scores of registered airfields, and I find it commendable indeed for CG's son to take this course of action. Getting a helicopter's licence is a lot more involved. C.o.A. - Certificate of Airworthiness is a plane's MoT and C.A.A. stands for Civil Aviation Authority, which all aircraft have to be registered with.
He was, and is, exccedingly lucky the plane didn't hit a rut, and tip. It's not a case of replacing a damaged prop - the whole shaft has to be taken out and checked with a special dye to see if any cracks have occurred. I do know what I'm talking about. Many years ago some hapless engineer was running an instrument check with a Twin Comanche at full revs when the chock underneath one of the wheels slipped. The aircraft spun like a top and smashed the external battery box. Being in the engineering department, we had all the right equipment, and had the aircraft back in the air less than a week later, and saved the saved the insurance company a fortune. Thank God nobody was hurt. However, he couldn't have made a worse choice - it happened to be the airport's owner's personal private aeroplane!! (Leavesden) They had to hire another Twin Comanche as he was due to fly to Belgium on business! 
Unfortunately money talks, and that was the end of his job. He pulled me aside later that week and told me he had an interview with another aircraft company that week, and would I pray for him. We never heard from him again, but apparantly he was taken on there and then. If I put my car in for an MOT and it fell off the ramps, I'd be quite upset about it, but I'd like to think I'd have the grace to accept it as a straight accident and not demand that somebody lose their livelihood over it, but this bloke was a nasty bit of work. As I said, money talks.
I'm not quite sure what you're on about Fred. Yes, it's very lucky he didn't tear the landing gear off, and as for being in trouble with the C A A what was he supposed to do, stay up there for evermore?? That's the whole point, he wasn't sure it would stay up there!! That's why he did as he's been taught to do and after checking all his instruments etc. and was pretty sure it was nothing he was doing wrong, decided to make the safest forced landing he could.
When the engineer arrived he found the fault immediately, one of the four valves had gone. You probably know what that means, being of that ilk, but I'm just a lowly housewife and mum and know it's something to do with the prop., so as it wasn't a pilot error all the expense of the repairs and the compensation to the farmer etc. will be covered by the owner's insurance.
I'm very pleased with the whole outcome to be honest. To find that he kept his head and was able to carry out the training he'd been given. If anything on earth had ever got me into a plane in the first place and that happened, I would just close my eyes and hope for the best, and that includes even if I was the pilot!
I think he was back in the air yesterday stan, and he will be tomorrow when he goes for his daughter. I don't think it bothered him at all.
Well, he's up there as I type! He rang me at 4.40 and he was at her school fete in Selsey and said he was starting off at five. It obviously hasn't phased him, I wonder if he's told her??
