I once asked a State Trooper if it was legal for me to use Alaskan roads as landing strips. The answer was “Yes, it’s legal for me, so I don’t know why it would not be legal for you. As long as it is done responsibly, and with no risk to on-lookers.” I was surprised by his answer because I just assumed it was totally illegal. I have always used roads as a last resort option, but it’s not uncommon to end up on the last resort when the unknown turns nasty. There is a strip we try to use every Spring for an annual job, but it is inevitably in a melt-out phase that is not safe for landing. There is a nearby highway that has become the reliable back-up plan. I remember I landed there one time in a cross wind and dang near took out a road sign with my wing tip. It scared the beans out of me and helped remind me of the risk I was taking. It’s one thing to trim the bushes with a wing tip and quite another to to trim a galvanized metal post. I got away with this little maneuver, but it was a lesson learned.
There are obstacles associated with road landings that are hard to see and horribly destructive. Power-lines, pot-holes, and mile markers are just a few of the dangers that could ruin your whole day. I once had a mail box pass so close to the underside of my wing I cringe to think of it. The biggest doozy is the power-line. Those are nasty, nasty, hard to see obstacles that need to be well respected. We once lost the power at the house due to a Maule M-7 clipping the power-line down the road, when we visited the wreckage it made me sick. The plane had center-punched the power line, and that power-line had wrapped itself around the prop spinner. After the prop had cut the line and exhausted the slack it was like they played a game of “crack-the-whip” at 100+ mph. The after-math of that collision was unreal, and it is an image I will never forget. I guess the moral of this little story is that if you are going to use a road for landing I think it best to visit from the ground first if possible, and then be doggone careful. I’ll take a glacier landing almost any day.