dennis wrote:
snip
You subtract reaction time, reconfiguration time, screw around trying to get
the thing to run, and it is very, very unlikely that a power plane will get
back to the runway at any time during their climb out. Unless it is a long
runway and you started from the end.

After getting my private, I was wondering about this, particularly
because the airport I usually fly out of (PDK) is surrounded by
development that leaves no place, at any time of day, to even dream of
setting down safely in the event of an engine failure.

Not getting answers that satisfied me, I went out and did some tests
myself, at altitude. Used GPS, a partner to log altitudes and
waypoints, etc. Came to the conclusion that if everything went
*perfect*, and you *knew* it was going to happen, it would take 500' agl
to make it back, in a Warrior.

But what I did was pick the brains of my friends who were glider pilots,
worked on Vms turns, high bank angle turns, popping 10 degrees of flap
for the turn and popping it out for the glide, etc., etc. After
practicing all that, and knowing what was coming, 500' was the best I
could do. Which to me means 800'-1000' in real life, if you practiced
it a lot.

It was an eye-opener for me to see how little margin for error I have
operating out of PDK. It has changed my standard departure. I climb at
Vx to pattern altitude, just to gain the most altitude while I'm still
within reach of the airport boundaries. The one good thing about PDK is
it has 4 runways aligned 3 different ways, and lots of taxiways and ramp
space between them, so just getting back to the airport itself you have
a better chance of putting it down safely, if not on a runway.

Plus the crash trucks don't have as far to go. :-)

--
David Hill
david at hillREMOVETHISfamily.org
Sautee-Nacoochee, GA, USA

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