Damn those pesky ATC's. Their reaction sometimes could be described simply schizophrenic. Oh, for god's sake if someone uses their deserted pads for a few seconds longer. Imagine a parking enforcement officer hunting you down with a shotgun if you exceed your parking time. That's how Elite feels sometimes, lol.
Unfortunate incident, I'm sorry to hear about your loss. In most cases if you just fidget around aggressively and try getting the momentum going, the ship can come loose eventually, but once it's stuck for good, and I do mean REAL good, it's really stuck then. However if this happens when you're on the right pad, I'd say returning to the main menu before the timer runs out and give it another approach is not a bad option. Your situation though was even worse because of the nonexistent time on the clock thanks to the wrong landing pad.
I find Cutter's rear landing gears really hazardous. Quite often they seem to get stuck like super magnets on things such as antennas, probes, and all those small objects you can imagine surrounding the landing pad.
One time I got stuck with my Corvette. This happened in Deciat over a year ago, but this time it wasn't the landing gear, it was the front-end of the ship. I got stuck so bad like a solid brick. I literally couldn't move not even the slightest. I've actually experienced this bug twice (one time I had to return to the main menu as the time was running out, it just wasn't possible to break away) This other time though I did manage to break away, but it took me almost 8 mins of struggle, lol. [squeeeee]
[hotas]
"Blocking bay access is a crime; don't risk annihilation. Make way."
