This is a truly fantastic account of a ‘forced FLIT”, or Forced Landing Into Trees, in which the pilot intentionally selected trees to conduct the emergency forced landing!

In the Spring of 2021, Truman O’Brien and Craig Beles, two pilots from Vashon Island, WA experienced what pilots prepare for and fear the most – a crash landing in hostile terrain. Returning from dropping off one of their planes for a paint job, engine failure just south of Mt. St. Helens, WA caused them to use some incredible decision-making skills as they rapidly descended to the forest floor. Watch this first part in a 4-part series to hear what was going through the heads as they “put it in the trees.” 

Credit: LightSpeed Aviation (https://www.lightspeedaviation.com/blog-posts/aviation-no-tie-downs-were-going-to-put-it-in-the-trees/)

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/

Credit: General Aviation Accident