FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees takes top honours at SA CAA 2023 Industry Awards
John Comley and Paul Ludick receiving the Research & Develoment award at the South African Civil Aviation Industry Awards 2023 event.
Photo Credit: SACAA
John Comley and Paul Ludick were recognised by the South Africa Civil Aviation Authority at the Civil Aviation Industry Awards 2023 event, collecting the top award in the category of Research & Development, for their five-year project on Forced Landing Into Trees, an initiative aimed at increasing pilot and passenger chances of survival when having to conduct a forced emergency landing in a situation where traditional forced emergency landing options are few.
Having studied general aviation (GA) aircraft accidents over many years, John Comley and Paul Ludick (Master of Science in Aviation Safety) decided to look more closely at the differences between fatal versus non-fatal GA accidents. In short, they investigated any common factors in GA accidents in which pilots and passengers had survived.
Not surprisingly, it turned out that accidents in which the fatality rate was the lowest were the accidents in which the aircraft remained largely horizontal at the point of impact, and, if impacting any form of obstacle in the accident, the impacted object would generally have had the propensity to absorb the kinetic energy of the aircraft, thereby lessening the g-force and blunt force trauma on the aircraft occupants.
What was apparent was that in GA aircraft accidents in which the pilot, either intentionally or inadvertently, conducted a forced emergency landing INTO THE TOPS OF TREES, the survival rate was close to 100%.
Forced Landing Into Trees Online Training!
Conducting the FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees online training is strongly recommended.
So is certifying as a FLIT-Certified pilot.
The FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees online training provides access to the full FLIT training course, FLIT approach videos, FLIT crash-test videos, along with access to FLIT case studies.
Furthermore, the FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees ONLINE TRAINING is a prerequisite for the FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees CERTIFICATION PROGRAMME (annual).
- Introduction to Forced Landing Into Trees
- “Seriously, a Forced Emergency Landing INTO TREES?”
- Physics and Energy for Forced Landing Into Trees
- Executing a Successful Forced Landing Into Trees
- Pilot Psychology for Forced Landing Into Trees
- Simulation Training for Forced Landing Into Trees
- FLIT Online Training & Certification for Pilots
- FLIT Certification for Flight Instructors
- FLIT Certification for Flight Schools
- Affiliate Programme for Instructors and Flight Schools
- FLIT Events – Tracking & Reporting
- FLIT Case Studies
Click on the link below to download the full contents for the FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees books and online training!
Register for FLIT Online Training!
Including the FLIT Fast Start Guide!
$25.00
Visit the AV8TOR SAFETY website (www.av8torsafety.com/FLIT) to sign up for the FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees ONLINE TRAINING (https://av8torsafety.com/courses/FLIT), as well as the FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees PILOT CERTIFICATION PROGRAMME (https://av8torsafety.com/courses/FLIT-Pilot-Certification).
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FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees provides additional landing options when faced with the need to conduct a forced emergency landing. When airfields, roads, fields or other normal landing options are not available or sub-optimal, FLIT provides a GA pilot with further, and potentially life-saving landing options! Understanding the physics behind FLIT is critical to ensure a successful FLIT landing.
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Register for FLIT TODAY!
Register TODAY and start learning how to improve your forced emergency landing skills, and help to avoid a situation like THIS!
Forced Landing Into Trees is an irrefutable emergency forced landing technique that, whilst your aircraft may not survive, you and your passengers and crew will have a significantly improved chance of survival!
FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees is to be Recognised and Applauded
“Having read FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees, I have an entirely altered perspective to the previously unconsidered option of conducting a forced landing, in a light aircraft, into trees.
Paul Ludick and John Comley’s research and initiative is to be recognised and applauded.
Their advice is factual and practical and serves well in enhancing and significantly expanding the alternatives a pilot faces when they are required, through circumstance, to conduct a forced landing.”
Thank you for creating this well-researched masterpiece!
“Before I came across the FLIT guide, I had the impression that forced landings into trees were survivable only in rare cases and should not be attempted at any cost. This made me anxious when flying over forest areas or cities, where few classical emergency landing options exist.
This guide is a very thorough yet easy-to-understand explanation of how to successfully conduct such a landing and what strategies to follow to increase your chances of walking away safely from it. It equipped me with the knowledge to increase my peace of mind when flying – especially since I frequently take off and land at an airstrip that has few options for forced landings other than the forest on both sides. I especially liked the quick-start guide at the beginning, which teaches you the most important points in a limited time.
Thank you for creating this well-researched masterpiece! I believe that every pilot should possess this knowledge to make their flights safer, and to contribute to the safety of general aviation as a whole.”
FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees Worldwide Student #1
“Incidentally, do you know the number of ridges in Arkansas? I do. I’ve counted them all. Of course, I kept losing count — but they are ALL covered in trees — and THAT certainly motivated me for FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees!
Lots of east Texas is covered in trees, too!”
Trees must become a Pilot’s Friend!
Changing a pilot’s thinking, from, “Avoid trees, which are obstacles”, to “Use trees to potentially save lives in the event of a forced emergency landing”
FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees Books!
- Introduction to Forced Landing Into Trees
- “Seriously, a Forced Emergency Landing INTO TREES?”
- Physics and Energy for Forced Landing Into Trees
- Executing a Successful Forced Landing Into Trees
- Pilot Psychology for Forced Landing Into Trees
- Simulation Training for Forced Landing Into Trees
- FLIT Online Training & Certification for Pilots
- FLIT Certification for Flight Instructors
- FLIT Certification for Flight Schools
- Affiliate Programme for Instructors and Flight Schools
- FLIT Events – Tracking & Reporting
- FLIT Case Studies
Click on the link below to download the full contents for the FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees books and online training!
Purchase the FLIT: Forced Landing Into Trees Book TODAY!
$149.00/129.00/$119.00
On top of every pilot’s mind should be the desire to walk back into their airfield clubhouse or their home, ALIVE, even if it means having written off an aircraft through having sacrificed it in a landing in which they consciously placed their life, and the life of their passengers and crew, FIRST!
By joining the GREEN PIN Club, you are PUBLICLY declaring that you put ‘Lives before Aircraft’ and would be fully prepared to write off your aircraft for the sake of your life and the lives of passengers and crew.
You can join the GREEN PIN Club by signing up on the AV8TOR SAFETY website: www.av8torsafety.com/flit/green-pin-club
On joining, you will receive an email, showing you how to order GREEN PIN Club merchandise, which will allow you to proudly demonstrate your belief in and commitment to ‘placing lives before aircraft’!
By joining the GREEN PIN Club, you are signing up for SURVIVAL!
You are committing to:
- Always putting your life and the lives of your passengers and crew AHEAD of your aircraft
- Make decisions that prioritise your life and the lives of your passengers and crew, even it it means writing off your aircraft
- NEVER fly outside of your or your aircraft’s safety envelopes and minimums
- Doing EVERYTHING in your power to ‘stay green’, including NEVER to fly below VDMMS when manoeuvring at low level!
Legend for FLIT Global Event Map
- FLIT Event– an aircraft accident in which the pilot has intentionally or inadvertently landed into trees, with the outcome being Non-Fatal or Fatal
- Non-FLIT Event – an aircraft accident in which the pilot has had the opportunity to execute a forced landing into trees, but either intentionally, or unwittingly, chose not to, with the outcome being Non-Fatal or Fatal
FLIT Event Reporting
If you have a FLIT-type forced emergency landing in your aircraft, please be sure to log the details here, to assist us with building global statistics on ‘Forced Landing Into Trees’ landings
Report a FLIT-Event HERE!
Source: Frontiersman.com
Paul holds a fixed-wing private pilot’s license and a Master’s degree (Air Transport) in aircraft safety and accident investigation from Cranfield University in the United Kingdom.
A veteran of 24 years in business, corporate and general aviation, having served as CEO for two aviation companies in Africa, Paul appreciates the challenges at hand and methods required to produce a 1st world service in a 3rd world environment, understanding the operational dynamics, from the apron to the boardroom.
A husband and a father of two children, Paul lives in Hartbeespoort, North West Province, South Africa, and when not serving in the aviation industry, Paul is a property developer, a keen photographer and practices observational astronomy in his spare time.
John is an engineer, pilot, and innovator.
A pilot of 35 years, having started off flying hang-gliders in KwaZulu Natal, in South Africa.
John holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from the University of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa.
Committed to serving the GA pilot community, with a strong practical focus on pilot safety, John continually innovates and works on projects and developments to this end.
A father of five adult children, John lives in The Coves, an aero estate in the Northwest province of South Africa.