Forced Landing In A Palm Grove
I remember swinging the control bar to steady the aircraft and not point myself at a tree. I was aimed at the middle point between two coconut palms with a banana tree some distance in and in the middle. I might actually be overstating my last minute command of the aircraft. It might be that it was sheer luck that I was pointed between and not at the coconut trees. Thank goodness, the coconuts were planted plantation style in measured straight lines and not haphazardly.
At Budiarto, I had meant to ring Melinda but decided to leave it until I got to the resort and could report success, maybe do a bit of boasting. All of a sudden there was this forward whoosh of momentum and I was four or five feet above the ground headed at the banana tree and picking up speed. As I zoomed towards the trees I thought of her and regretted that I had not rung. I could not work out where the forward momentum had come from. Once down and after some discussion with the others, it was clear that a huge amount or "rotor" was at work; i.e. as the strong wind (we reckoned at the height of the storm it was 65 knots plus) came over the palm tops it created a vacuum on the lee side so we had a pocket of still air and then a rushing wind going back to fill the vacuum, rather like a curling wave. I had come down into the relatively still air and then been hit by the back rushing air.
We, the aircraft and me, hit the ground and came to a dead stop. The wings had hit the coconut trees, especially the left wing, and the effect was like an arrester wire on an aircraft carrier. 
The hit the left wing took forced the airframe to swing to the right and we came in sort of on our left side. Thump, and I opened my eyes. I was lying on my left side, helmet and shoulder resting on the dirt and the damn engine was still running. We were on some kind of soft mound just past but near the left-hand tree. I was convinced that I had turned the engine off but had forgotten that the ignition was basically an electric start and that the two magneto switches needed to be turned off and I had not done that. Belatedly, I corrected this oversight, it was clear I was not in my Toyota.
The hit the left wing took forced the airframe to swing to the right and we came in sort of on our left side. Thump, and I opened my eyes. I was lying on my left side, helmet and shoulder resting on the dirt and the damn engine was still running. We were on some kind of soft mound just past but near the left-hand tree. I was convinced that I had turned the engine off but had forgotten that the ignition was basically an electric start and that the two magneto switches needed to be turned off and I had not done that. Belatedly, I corrected this oversight, it was clear I was not in my Toyota. I unbuckled and took off my helmet and headset. I stood up and felt fine. Nothing broken apparently and no pain anywhere. The aircraft was a sad sight. The lovely two blade wooden propeller was minus its tips, shattered, and right wing was leaning up against a palm. I could not find the banana tree although there was a small one a few feet away but it was not the one I had in my eyes as I went in. I never did work out where that banana tree went.
When I later checked my helmet, I found that the acrylic face shield had been forced past the visor that kept it in place. I also found an impact mark on the acrylic which suggested that my control bar had hit it hard - a mark which went from my nose to my left eye. I also noticed that the faceplate also held the small legend, "not warranted shatter proof". It held up anyway. I will always wear a helmet from now on, I promise.
Within a couple of minutes I had a hundred men and kids standing around the aircraft looking at and fingering the various of bits of machine. The padi was alive with running people. We smiled a lot at each other. The Javanese have some kind of amazing bush telegraph. Within minutes I was being told about other aircraft, four aircraft down and safe by the beach, another down in padi a few hundred metres away. No word, however, of our Rear Flight Leader, Mike.