Soybean or cornfield emergency landing debate

Briar Rabbit

Briar Rabbit

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Albion, Nebraska
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Rob
Friend of mine has a nice cropduster, turbo prop. He had fuel contamination in August and had to put it down. His choices were a Nebraska cornfield that had a 7 foot high crop with ears on the plants or a soybean field that was about 3 feet tall. He felt that the soybeans having more of a vine might wrap up on the conventional gear and flip him so he selected the taller cornfield. Prop was still spinning when he entered the crop canopy and hitting the ears on the plants absolutely destroyed his propellor, could not have done as much damage to it as a gear up landing on a paved runway. I was amazed it did so much damage, totally destroyed it.

Anyone have any personal experience setting down in a soybean field late in the summer? Which field would have been better? Obviously when you are in the middle of a 1 mile square field with 5 feet of elevation over the crop it limits your choices but if he could have made the adjacent soybeans I wonder if he would have had less damage, would they flip a heavy cropduster?
 
Either would be viable options for me, but I’d probably elect to aim for the cornfield given the choice, as I’d presume the tall and thick stalks would be able to absorb a little more energy.
 
I dunno, and have thought about that before. It was interesting that Dan Gryder's 150 accident into the cornfield last year ended up with a flipped over-plane in a cornfield, but it also seems like if you have shoulder harnesses and properly dissipate your energy before the impact, the chance of injury is relatively low.

 
RyanB said:
Either would be viable options for me, but I’d probably elect to aim for the cornfield given the choice, as I’d presume the tall and thick stalks would be able to absorb a little more energy.
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Sadly for you and me, unless we're in a very lucky spot we get to pick trees. Or......more trees.
 
I have heard the argument before that tall corn will absorb a lot of energy and I tend to agree that it likely absorbs a lot of energy and is very survivable. However my concerns are it will likely cause a lot of damage to the airframe. There is also the concern that an airplane in the middle of a corn field is likely not to be noticed by anyone nearby for quite some time unless they see it go in. Really the only advantage I see to the tall corn field over the soybean field is that the corn field probably has less likelihood of the plane flipping over.

So unless I am flying a low wing airplane where I am concerned that that flipping over might be an issue that would cause significant injury I would probably take the Soybean field as it has less likely hood of damaging the airframe and much better chance that someone driving by will notice and can assist if needed. It even has the potential that I might be able to fly the plane again next week, which is not likely with the corn field

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
 
I live in the Midwest. I never thought this deeply about it. I would never have chosen corn over beans. I still won’t.

The abrupt stop is what hurts. Beans are less abrupt.

Water, beans, corn, sand, mud...can we be less quantitative about the results and more qualitative? They all have a propensity to flip a plane like a tail-dragger standing on the brakes. Best would be to have as high an AOA as possible and mush it in at the last second to keep forward momentum as low as possible and vertical downward momentum high, but not so wrong as to dip a wing or break vertebrae.

Until I see a study, I’ll pick beans. I’m not an expert, I’m just an opinion in a pilots body.
 
I farm both corn and soybeans. Late
summer beans will more than likely flip you if you catch the gear in them. They are almost impossible to walk through.

I had a fellow instructor put a C-152 down in a tall corn field and there was very little damage to the airplane. Like someone above said with corn there is a lot of plant matter to slow you down gracefully whereas soybeans would grab you and not let go.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Gotta get this in. Thanks for your patience @Briar Rabbit. I have no experience or knowledge to add. Some will.

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Daleandee said:
Ask the insurance company ... it belongs to them when the engine quits. :)
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This. My wife asked me once what would happen if the engine quit. I told her that at that instant, the airplane now belongs to the insurance company, and it has only one remaining function during its existence -- to get whoever is in the plane on the ground, alive. Nothing else matters. I have absolutely zero emotional attachment to the airplane, and I feel no duty to preserve it at the cost of the slightest risk to its occupants.

As for corn or beans, I'll pick whichever one doesn't have a center pivot or fence or ditch in the way, and either way I'd want to hit at full stall. That said, I spent so much of my childhood looking for RC airplanes in corn and bean fields that I hope I never have to walk through either one again.
 
Having never landed in a corn or soybean field personally, since moving to the midwest many years ago I have been told by nearly all older/bolder pilots in the area always go for the corn field over a bean field. One gent here did survive a landing into a bean field, barely. The small experimental taildragger he had flipped immediately and was balled up with him inside. I've been on scene of a couple of corn field landings, with minimal damage to aircraft and no injuries. Take it for what its worth.
 
I've seen two planes into the corn; couldn't have done the leading edges more damage if you use a ball-peen hammer. I'll aim for the beans, as where you find one, you find the other in these parts.
 
I may have to rethink my corn vs beans. Good to hear some of this.
 
anyone have a pic of a soybean field right next to a corn field, taken from 3000'? which one can you eat raw? also, which powers a flux capacitor better?
 
I have heard several pilots with concerns over having to land in a tall alfalfa field. I feel this would have less dire consequences than either corn or beans. Comments?
 
DaleB said:
My wife asked me once what would happen if the engine quit. I told her that at that instant, the airplane now belongs to the insurance company, and it has only one remaining function during its existence -- to get whoever is in the plane on the ground, alive. Nothing else matters. I have absolutely zero emotional attachment to the airplane, and I feel no duty to preserve it at the cost of the slightest risk to its occupants.
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Exactly. I don't think it could be more clearly stated.

Once that airplane has let me down, it is my duty as PIC to protect the passengers, not the airplane.

Plenty of folks have died trying to protect the airplane.
 
I'm thinking would I rather have someone smack me upside the head with an ear of corn. Or a soybean.
 
I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a corn or soybean field up front much less from the skies. So in emergency landing on farm land, gear up? And how do you hold up the nose wheel? I always feel like the mains hit first then the nose plops down in a low wing airplane, I wouldn’t say a hard landing but not as controlled as say a high wing airplane where it seems easier to keep the nose wheel off longer.
 
I was at a Rod Machado talk a bunch of years ago in a room with about 300 pilots. He ask the audience "What's the most expensive plane you've ever flown?" Answers - "P210" - "King Air" - "Citation", etc.

Rod (paraphrased): In the event of an off-airport landing, your plane is worth the insurance deductible, which is usually either $100 or $0.

As pointed out above, once the fan quits, you need to figure that the insurance company bought the plane. At that point, you need to use the airplane's structure and whatever you land in to absorb as much energy as possible before the forces get to your body.
 
Briar Rabbit said:
I have heard several pilots with concerns over having to land in a tall alfalfa field. I feel this would have less dire consequences than either corn or beans. Comments?
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I grew up on a farm, but in a climate too cold for soybeans. I've never tried to walk through a soybean field. Alfalfa and corn we had in abundance. I think I'd pick the alfalfa, I don't recall it being particularly hard to walk through, and while 'tall' might mean almost knee-high, it gets cut a couple of times a year, so at any given time that same crop might only be just a few inches high.

I also like the notion that in alfalfa or soybeans, your downed plane would be very easy to spot.
 
Swampfox201 said:
I farm both corn and soybeans. Late
summer beans will more than likely flip you if you catch the gear in them. They are almost impossible to walk through.
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This is what I've always heard. Soybeans have tough vines and when you catch your gear in them, flipping is almost a certainty. The only advantage I can think of with beans is that they're short, so nobody is going to have to guess which row to go down from the road, they can walk over to you.

Corn is going to ruin the paint? That's an insurance company problem, whether they buy the airplane or not.
 
Briar Rabbit said:
Anyone have any personal experience setting down in a soybean field late in the summer? Which field would have been better?
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Won't need to worry about it this year. Fertilizer costs are up 100% and with the price of diesel is near 50% due to inflation, farmers indicate they won't be growing corn and will plant something hardier that requires less fuel and fertilizer. Expect low ethanol output next fall ...
 
I have no personal experience with landing in either type of field that time of year but I have experience with aircraft recovery. I also have heard the same arguments about bean fields late in the summer. In my case, those arguments have all come from people who haven’t landed in either kind of field or off airport at all.

Every aircraft that I’ve recovered and could be flown from the field came out of a bean field. Perhaps that is just luck but if it is, it is repeated luck by different pilots.
 
danhagan said:
Won't need to worry about it this year. Fertilizer costs are up 100% and with the price of diesel is near 50% due to inflation, farmers indicate they won't be growing corn and will plant something hardier that requires less fuel and fertilizer. Expect low ethanol output next fall ...
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More like 300% on fertilizer. Even so corn is still profitable at current prices, and there will still be plenty of it.

Not unusual for beans to be chest high any more. When they're shorter and easier to get through, so is the corn. I always figured corn would be better, as it's a lot easier to get through. Gryder's 150 crash has made me second guess that, but I'm thinking that may have been a peculiarity of a high wing where the wing was still flying when the fuselage encountered a crapload of drag and imparted the pitching moment. If I have to pick in my Lance, it'll be gear up in a corn field close to a road. In a 172....probably going to pick the beans, but expect to get flipped either way.
 
Someone who knows of a soybean field and a corn field should take a flight and snap pics of both from the air. Because even if one was unanimously favorable, I wouldn’t have a clue what one looks like over the other. Lastly, I’d take a flat field of one over a hilly field of the other.
 
I grow both soybeans and corn. One other thing to consider when making a forced landing into a soybean or corn field is the direction of the rows. It would be best to land in the direction of the planted rows and not at an angle or perpendicular to the planted rows. I have heard of a local crop duster that put a Stearman down in a cotton field, made repairs and flew it out of the field. I don't think you could fly a plane out of a mature corn field. But...... if the engine quits I'm not sure if I'm looking at row planting direction or a specific crop.
 
eman1200 said:
anyone have a pic of a soybean field right next to a corn field, taken from 3000'? which one can you eat raw? also, which powers a flux capacitor better?
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JAK_9752 by Jack Silver, on Flickr

The harvester is in the soybeans. The corn, which hasn't been cut yet in that picture, takes a different header. At that time of year, either one would break your teeth if you ate them raw. Mr. Fusion runs about the same on either one.

eman1200 said:
Someone who knows of a soybean field and a corn field should take a flight and snap pics of both from the air. Because even if one was unanimously favorable, I wouldn’t have a clue what one looks like over the other. Lastly, I’d take a flat field of one over a hilly field of the other.
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See above.
 
Cap'n Jack said:
JAK_9752 by Jack Silver, on Flickr

The harvester is in the soybeans. The corn, which hasn't been cut yet in that picture, takes a different header. At that time of year, either one would break your teeth if you ate them raw. Mr. Fusion runs about the same on either one.


See above.
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shoot I'd land in both......looks like the wind is favoring coming in from the bottom left. land in the 1' high soybeans, then transition to the cornfield. easy peasy.
 
I'm an Iowa corn and soybean and alfalfa farmer who has never had to land in any of them when the crop is mature. My opinion is that if one has no choice, one lands where one has to, with the row if possible, at a stall. I would expect any of them to have the likelihood to total a smaller plane. I know of two airplanes that have landed in corn. Both flipped. One was a loaded Turbine-powered Ag Cat that lost power just after lift-off. I know of one 450hp Stearman that added power too soon when turning onto a runway and ended up departing into a mature soybean field. He was airborne and just clipped the top of the beans, but boy did it retard him and he had a lot of beans wrapped around the axle. I think he was very luck to escape and had a big engine and light plane to help.

But if one has the altitude, power or time opportunity to choose between mature corn, alfalfa or soybeans, there is almost certainly a better option, such as a waterway, road, or other crop. Although a mature CRP grass field would be just as bad as any of them.
 
eman1200 said:
shoot I'd land in both......looks like the wind is favoring coming in from the bottom left. land in the 1' high soybeans, then transition to the cornfield. easy peasy.
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The corn becomes your EMAS... :)
 
Which one will do less damage to the aircraft? WGAF!

I’d be tempted to pick the corn as it would slow down the plane faster, but not too fast. But the soybeans would have smoother “rows”, I think, less ruts.

with my vast experience of one whole off field landing I’m going to say, I’d pick the one I could get too easiest. Because you really just don’t have enough time for much else, and being properly set up is more important IMO.
 
Friend of mine put a 152 into a mature corn field. When the horizontal stab hit the corn, it pitched the tail up and flipped the plane.

Probably have been a different outcome in a low wing plane.
 
here's a couple of pics...corn doesn't look good.
FB6C6447-726A-4B8A-BFC6-4DA81BD85B67.jpeg5f5641573a0d9.image.jpg
 

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I farmed soy beans for quite a few years in my teens. I don't know what kind of soybeans they're farming now but the ones I remember don't have "vines."
 
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