Chenies
Note: This map only shows the position of Chenies village within the UK. Presumably somebody took a picture, or pictures of G-MASS in the field? It would be lovely if one of these could be included in this 'Guide'.
CHENIES: Emergency landing location
Location: Near Chenies village, probably N of the A404, roughly 2nm N of Chorleywood
NOTES: I have only included this purely because the circumstances interested me and in the very broadest sense it very nearly rates as a temporary airfield according to the criteria I am using. On 28th September 2002 a Cessna 152 G-MASS on a training flight out of DENHAM made a very successful landing here after the engine lost power.
Extensive engine tests and some minor repairs were made in situ and the grass mown to make a ‘strip’ from which G-MASS later successfully took off. Another aspect is that the flying instructor made an excellent job of the landing causing no damage at all to the aircraft and that in itself struck me as being worthy of inclusion because it is very rare that a forced landing in recent years doesn’t incur some damage. And indeed, in some cases, sadly the results of mishandling the emergency have proved fatal.
Even if undamaged the aircraft usually has to be removed by a truck or trailer. And indeed, I have been personally involved on a few occassions to retrieve a force-landed aircraft in my truck. In each instance with only minor, or in fact, no damage at all.
Making an usually successful forced landing harks back to the earlier days of aviation of course when similar occurrences were commonplace. But of course the aircraft were lighter, flew slower, and were designed to land on relatively rough fields and pastures.
Terry Clark
This comment was written on: 2017-12-25 20:18:23Chenies or RAF Martins Top was a meteorological station and is still in use as such but unmanned.
Terry Clark
This comment was written on: 2020-12-13 04:56:51Since I wrote the above, I found out the site of the Met Radar was in fact a Ground Controlled Intercept radar unit in the '50s with several large radars on pedestals.
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