Creator Hopes Data Will Be Shown On GPS Maps

A new Web site was launched recently, with a novel premise. True to its name, Emergency Runways is billed as the industry's first website for private pilots looking for a place to land in the event of an emergency.

Craig Maiman, an electrical engineer and glider pilot, says he came up with the idea for the website about a year ago. "I thought why not use the power of the Internet to build a database of some reasonable places to land in the event of an emergency? If you're in a situation where the engine goes out, anything to improve your odds is good.

"Having someplace to land that's already vetted by other pilots is helpful -- especially if you're in the clouds or at night," Maiman notes. "You want to swing probability in your direction as much as possible."

The site seems fairly simple to use. A pilot goes to the site, and registers with a user name, password and email address. They then mark up a Google Map of places they've noticed -- perhaps while flying or even while driving around -- that might make good emergency runways. It may be a strip of highway without power lines, a smooth, flat field, or an abandoned airstrip—anything that would give a pilot a viable option if the power fails.

They may also rate the landing sites on a scale of A+ to C+ and add comments. Additional pilots can rate and post comments on existing sites in the database. The pilot posting is all done anonymously, and the more pilots that contribute, the higher quality and more comprehensive the database will be.

The database of worldwide landing sites will be freely downloadable... with the hope that GPS manufacturers will incorporate them into their systems. A pilot would then be able to indicate to the system that "the power's failed, find me the nearest and best place to land within gliding distance" -- and the location would appear on the GPS display.

Until that happens, pilots may check out the site ahead of a planned flight, to see any emergency landing areas listed along their route.

FMI: www.emergencyrunways.com