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- Apr 14, 2015
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It was a calm night so I went out for a long distance flight, everything was working out to 50,000 feet, when I started heading back I just could not get the speed I needed, I was looking for 36 mph and could only get about 33 (it's hard to gauge the wind 10 miles away from you)
About 4 miles from my home point it was clear I was not going to make it back, so I decided to land on the dead-end road that I live on. It's directly in the flightpath and 2 miles from my home point. It would be a slamdunk emergency land in daylight. But a 70' cul desac (turnaround) in pitch black using radar only was tricky. I landed, could see the pavement in the camera view with the p4's LED's so safe land! Then I started to pack up and drive the 2 miles back. That part of the story is typical!
But... Once a summer in our 'hood they have a heavy trash pickup day where you set big junk items out on your curb and they pick up. For a week people ( hooters we call them) cruise around picking thru your trash looking for scrap metal or other treasures. Our street is a deadend and on any normal night would not see a car, but this weeks been crazy. As I'm getting close I could see there was two different "hooter" cars on my street. I started to panic that they would run the p4 over w/ there car as I landed in the middle of the road!
So I sped up and passed the first car, then continued at a steady pace and passed the second "hooter" right before my deadend!
I saw the p4 landed safely in the middle of the turnaround, lights flashing. The car I passed pulled up as I was grabbing it and the lady got out to forage thru my curbside junk. She actually told me "That dont look like something you want to loose, if I pulled up and saw those lights flashing, I would be like woo-hoo!!
I'm just here to hoot!"
****! If I hadn't got there soon enough I know that P4 was goin for a car ride. Close call.
Lesson learned, never land in the street on "hooter week"!
And great story. Hay I'll be in your neck of the woods next month for a wedding. Some winery ( I did not know your state had them).
Got lucky, like you! 
My uncle died in his own private plane crash in Alaska 35 years ago. 
When the wreckage was discovered a week later, scavengers had already stripped the plane of all the avionics, but never reported finding the downed plane! 
