A PIREP: engine-out turn-back - some practice in the haze

wrote:
Todd,

Thanks fort the additional information.

This is, sadly, a subject that has been explored in aviation since the
early days of the Wrights. No matter how many times we hammer on
pilots not to turn back to the runway, a huge proportion of them insist
on trying, even if they have never, ever practiced the maneuver (um,
lessee, I've got a full-fleged emergency, I'll try something I've never
practiced before...Doh), and a staggeringly high percentage of those
who try it, die or get seriously injured.
All the best,
Rick


The Canard community lost one of its own earlier this year due to a
turnback at low altitude. The Pilot was flight testing his craft and had
already had one engine power loss at low altitude earlier this year that
was suspected to be vapor lock. The first time he made a return to the
field from about 400 feet, and landed on-field but off runway.

The second, final time, he was a bit lower, and in trying to turn
back, ended up making a VERY steep banked turn, and hit the lone stand
of trees off the end of the runway. Based on looking at the satellite
photos of the airport, the event may have been surviveable by simply
making a shallow bank to miss the trees and land in the surrounding
pastures.

If you are going to do something like this, (low turn back) you have
to know your plane.. You have to practice it often.. and you have to
understand that there is little to no margin for error. The stuff we fly
doesnt have the glide ratio to turn back from 200 ft after the rope
breaks. The "critical" decision altitude is different for each type of
aircraft, dependent on loading and also on the weather (winds, DA, etc).
If I lost my engine in a rental prior to making my base turn (4-500
feet, depending on the pattern altitude) I would be more inclined to
look ahead than turn back.

Dave Staten

On 2005-06-15, Dave S wrote:
The second, final time, he was a bit lower, and in trying to turn
back, ended up making a VERY steep banked turn, and hit the lone stand
of trees off the end of the runway.

It's not only altitude - it's terrain. For example, departing 08 at
Ronaldsway, I'd want a bit more altitude for thinking about turning
around - because if you come in too low, you hit a cliff (the departure
end goes off a small cliff into the sea). Most times, I'd rather ditch
and have to swim back to shore (an eminently survivable option) than
risk hitting a cliff head on (which is eminently unsurvivable).

Runway 26 is also obstructed on its departure end (lights, a low wall,
and a main road) - so I wouldn't make a minimum altitude turn back there
either.

However, at Andreas, the surrounding terrain is just fields and low
hedges. Off 11, the 'hedge' is just a border of weeds between the wheat
field off the departure end and the runway itself, so I'd be inclined to
turn around at a lower altitude there (and since it's the airfield I
most often fly from, I'm a lot more familiar with it anyway).

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"