Definition
Locations along or near a planned route that a pilot identifies in advance as places they would not want to attempt a forced or precautionary landing if the engine fails or another emergency requires putting the aircraft down. Identifying these areas during preflight planning and in flight helps the pilot mentally rule them out and steer toward better options.
Plain English
Spots on the ground that would be a bad place to land if you had to come down in a hurry. Things like dense forest, water, rough terrain, power lines, or built-up areas. Pilots think about these ahead of time so they know where not to go.
Context Anchor
Used in flight training and visualization when a pilot mentally practices aiming for a safe landing area and avoiding poor places to land.
Why Pilots Care
Mentally ruling out undesired sites first lets a pilot focus on viable options and shorten decision time in an actual emergency.
Grounding Statement
When choosing where to land, the pilot should be clear about both the safe target and the places to avoid.
Intuition Check
Do not read this as any landing site the pilot simply dislikes. In this context, it means a place that is not the intended safe landing area and could create risk if the aircraft landed there.
Example Sentence 1
During the preflight briefing, the instructor pointed out the large lake and ridge line as undesired landing sites along the route.
Example Sentence 2
The instructor had the student list undesired landing sites first so the remaining safe options became obvious.