idea for smartphone app...emergency landing

[way_up_north]

Hi guys..

While I`m sitting here in global lockdown...thought Id post something ive been thinking of

keep in mind i`m not a pilot yet...just ground school and a few hrs in the air so maybe this idea is already out there and I dont know about it...


you ever been driving along a road or highway and thought...hey this would make a great emergency landing site...no wires...pretty flat....ect

especially in the country or deep in the woods and you're on a dirt road that would make a great emergency landing site...

What if there was a phone app to record this...

You press a button to start the entry to the runway....drive along and press a button at the end....the new phones record altitude.....GPS....compass heading ect...you would even have slope/grade ...the smartphones have an extreme level of tech in them....

pilots using the app over time you would create a database to upload to garmin or whomever....could offer in dire emergencies somewhere to touchdown...when you're not in range of an airport or out in the boonies...


I`m only interested in 1% of gross....keep me in mind when you sell it to google for 2 billion...lol

[Nev]

Sort of like dropping a pin on google earth ? I like the concept.

[Chewie]

That's exactly what I did on my phone. Google Earth is a great tool for searching for fields. In my paramotor days I found all sorts of great spots, from sod farms to open space.

[svyolo]

I think it is a more useful idea if you are flying in mountainous terrain. Actually very useful. I might do something similar. Great idea. If you are in a car, on a road, almost by definition, there are plenty of places to land. The world is mostly an empty place other than .1% of the land where there are huge populations. Non-pilots see the world as a place filled with people and cities and suburbs, because that is what they can see from their cars. Pilots see it as a huge, sparsely populated place with a few houses down below.

Believe it or not, if you are at 10k feet over New York City, you can glide to the suburbs if you lose an engine.

[Nev]

And apparently you can reach the Hudson from 3000ft

[svyolo]

You could easily make the beaches of New Jersey or Long Island but you better have 10 dollars on you. If they catch you on the beach without paying for a "Beach Pass", they will, at a minimum, fine you heavily.