Sailplanes rely on weather phenomena to stay aloft. They rely on different types of lift; created by thermals, converging winds, ridge lift and mountain wave. If a pilot in a sailplane encounters insufficient lift, for whatever reason, they may be faced with landing prior to what they had planned, and even possibly not at an airport. This type of precautionary landing is commonly called “Landing Out” or off-field landings. On cross-country soaring flights, off-field landings are not usually considered emergency landings. As a matter of fact, they are expected and are considered while preparing for flight.
Although not common, a precautionary can occur and a pilot must understand the decision making, including errors, which had led this to situation. More importantly, they need to make good decisions and have planned ahead to have a safe, successful and pleasant situation if doing a precautionary landing.
This decision making process, along with accomplishing a precautionary landing/off-field landing (landing out) is an important thing to review ahead of time, prepare and think about scenarios that you may encounter, in order to accomplish it safely.
This is true of all pilots, in powered aircraft too. Here is a story of encountering of a pilot encountering their first off flied landing in a glider, why it happened, what happened and what they learned.
It is shared with you in hopes that you can learn something from this too.
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