So, without giving specifics or who, where, etc... after landing on a county road a truck came flying up and out jump a sheriff deputy. He believes my landing on a county road is illegal. I say, "I sure don't think it is." He says the FAA would be irate to know what I was doing. I said they don't care. He said it is illegal to land on a road, I say, "I sure don't think it is." He hops in the pickup to find where the law is. Another sheriff's pickup pulls up. He gets out and says it isn't illegal but he doesn't know how. We try to convince each other why it should/should not be legal. He says to stop being a smart ass, goodbye. I am encouraged to get in my car and leave (I landed where I park my car to drive home.) The other office puts his hand on my shoulder to direct me to my car. I get in my car and leave, they leave.

Now. . . I wasn't being a smart ass, I was being respectful but was trying to convince them why it wasn't a problem. I probably look like I'm 20 so that doesn't help. Regardless, they said they intend to pass an ordinance to make it illegal in the county.

So what can I do about fighting the creation of a county ordinance if they actually go through with it? If it becomes illegal, I will stop but I don't want that to happen. Is there any organization that would interested in this type of advocacy? I'm in Utah.

P.S. This is a little ironic because I think my last post on this forum years ago was about the legals of landing on a road.

Found this:

https://rules.utah.gov/publicat/code/r914/r914-002.htm

Last May I enlisted the county conservation guys to burn my native grass CRP that needs to be done a couple times during the 10 year contract. There is a lot of smoke so they let the sheriff's dept know and a deputy came by to watch and BS with us. The deputy also used to work with the park guys so everybody likes each other. I let the county guys hunt so they're happy. While BS'ing I asked the deputy if he would have a problem if I landed my plane on the gravel road going by my farm once in awhile and he said he wouldn't but the FAA might. I might talk to the sheriff to make sure too. What's funny is the present sheriff was a deputy years ago and was with a group of hunters that were hunting at my place without permission. That was a little awkward at the time.

Back in the mid 1990's I had finished working on a radio for Malheur County Sherriff in south east Oregon, and hooked it up to an antenna to let it run for the rest of the day. I heard a call from a deputy calling dispatch that he had "caught" 3 airplanes taking off from US 95 at Burns Junction, (they stopped for lunch), 2 of them got away but he got his car in front of the last 1 and stopped him, what should he charge him with? The dispatcher said wait while I call the prosecutor's office. When she came back on the radio she said he should "let him go, apologize, kiss his ass, and hope he doesn't file a bitch with the sheriff, if he does you will be fired by the end of the shift". Never heard any more about it.

The sheriff doesn't pass ordinances, the county commissioners do. Talk to them.

Seems to me they were overthinking it, or not thinking about it right....to your benefit. Do you have the required turn signals, stop lights, rearview mirrors, brake lights etc.? Are your tires D.O.T. approved? Did you have an overwidth permit? How about proper insurance required by your state for onroad use? Do you have the required license plate and are your tabs up to date? You get the picture.

Seems to me like you got lucky. I don't see why they couldn't ticket you on all of the above and more I'm sure I'm missing.

Good luck!

I think anybody landing on the road isn't going to do it when traffic is close by. There'd be nobody to see turn signals, brake lights etc but a nice strobe light might make everything golden. Us farmers get to go down the road with some interesting stuff with no problems.

County road operations were common in farm county last century. Farmers had clout in county government and the airplanes were slow and much more efficient close to the field and neither the farmer, county officials, nor Ag operator carried one bit more insurance than required by law. Very little. Most drift liability actually covered other damage caused by the airplane.

The Ag operator using million dollar airplanes generally has to have hull, goes 160 mph, and wants no problem with county government.

My non Ag county road use was where automobiles could be seen for miles or on the Reservation with permission of the local Chapter President. In today's legal environment, it is more adversarial and less gentlemanly.

Regardless, always ask the first person who arrives, official or not, "is it OK if I land here." In my experience, most say sure. One St Louis policeman said, "I'll tell the FAA you were caught in heavy rain." He gave me and baggage a ride to the St Charles airport and took me back after the storm.

What state did this happen in?

OP-Utah
Contact -Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona.

I suggest a meeting with the Sheriff. The elected one, not Deputy Fife.

Barnstormer wrote:Found this:

https://rules.utah.gov/publicat/code/r914/r914-002.htm

Good find, I was not aware of that. The law it references (72-10-117) is a law saying the county may crate these rules and it looks to me like R914-002 is guidance in making those laws but both these codes are not actually restricting aircraft operations on county roads. Maybe a legalese professional can correct me on that.

Hammer wrote:The sheriff doesn't pass ordinances, the county commissioners do. Talk to them.

Agreed, I am subscribing to the county commission docket to watch for this subject to come up. A neighbor I spoke with said that there will be people within the department and commission who will fight it because they do it themselves.

gbflyer wrote:I suggest a meeting with the Sheriff. The elected one, not Deputy Fife.

The deputy confronted me. The sheriff showed up shortly after and is the one who encouraged me to get in my car and leave (while physically turning me around.)

So where is the aircraft currently? Parked on the side of the road?

I moved it to the airport. I am gone for a while so I like to leave it somewhere safer.

joshuajayg wrote:

Barnstormer wrote:Found this:

https://rules.utah.gov/publicat/code/r914/r914-002.htm

Good find, I was not aware of that. The law it references (72-10-117) is a law saying the county may crate these rules and it looks to me like R914-002 is guidance in making those laws but both these codes are not actually restricting aircraft operations on county roads. Maybe a legalese professional can correct me on that.

Hammer wrote:The sheriff doesn't pass ordinances, the county commissioners do. Talk to them.

Agreed, I am subscribing to the county commission docket to watch for this subject to come up. A neighbor I spoke with said that there will be people within the department and commission who will fight it because they do it themselves.

gbflyer wrote:I suggest a meeting with the Sheriff. The elected one, not Deputy Fife.

The deputy confronted me. The sheriff showed up shortly after and is the one who encouraged me to get in my car and leave (while physically turning me around.)

Interesting. The Sheriff’s I’ve been around in Jerkwater, USA locations kinda like where I grew up usually shine a chair seat with their ass. You must really live in a small place if he’s out and about.

I’ve found most of them to be decent and helpful by the way, not knocking anyone. Sorry your run in was unpleasant. Maybe offer to volunteer to help them do Search and Rescue with your plane.

Y'all sure it was the honest-to-gawd elected Sheriff that showed up in the second vehicle? That would be fantastically unusual, even for a five-person department. An elected Sheriff RARELY has time to do anything other than deal with budgets, policy, and politicking. I've never heard of an elected Sheriff riding patrol, no matter how small the county.

If it actually was the elected Sheriff, count yourself lucky. You can go talk to him and he'll know the history first-hand. I'd imagine that any county small enough to have an elected Sheriff riding patrol would also be more inclined towards personal freedoms than Washington regulations, so it should be a slam dunk for you.

Regarding how you felt leaving the encounter...it's pretty hard to have a difference of opinion with people who are wearing a badge, gun, taser, handcuffs, baton, pepper spray, another gun, and gawd knows what else in the side pocket of their trousers, without feeling bullied. Law enforcement doesn't cary those things to intimidate decent people (though those things are intimidating); they cary them to keep from being murdered every day they go to work. It's an uncomfortable matrix on both sides of the encounter. Don't take it personal.

good luck