They call it the impossible turn.

On 2/12/2010 2:48 PM, terry wrote:
On Feb 13, 7:33 am, wrote:
terry writes:
Can you tell that an area in front of you is truly flat smooth and
safe from 500 feet altitude?

You can get a pretty good idea,

How good an idea? How well does MS Flight simulator simulate what
ground detail a pilot would see from 500 feet looking over the nose of
the aircraft? We know you have never flown an aircraft, but have you
ever even been a passenger in the front seat of an aircraft and
experienced the view from 500 feet? And how long do you think you
would have from 500 feet with no power to make a judgement of whether
that peice of seemingly flat smooth safe land is really that? and what
would you do when you get to 400 feet and suddenly discover there is a
power line slap bang across the approach path or a bunch of kids
playing chase? you have no idea.

I've been using MS Flight sim since version 4, and I can honestly
say that every time I have had to make an emergency landing during the
takeoff phase of flight the ground in front of me has been simulated to
be perfectly flat and smooth, and i am now able to discern this from
altitudes well over 500 feet, even close to 1600 meters, go figure.

By the way, i have flown a real ac, and from 500 ft, do you really think
you could turn around and land on the rw? Not likely.

In article ,
says...

terry writes:

Can you tell that an area in front of you is truly flat smooth and
safe from 500 feet altitude?

You can get a pretty good idea, and if it's reasonably close to flat and
smooth, it's still a better choice than trying to turn around.

If you can, can you also explain why
real pilots are taught to do precautionary search and landing passes
at 100 feet, if they need to make an emergency landing but still have
the power/time to do so?

If they don't have the power to turn around, they definitely don't have the
power to make any precautionary passes at 100 feet.

There you go again - just NOT LISTENING. Read what he said (he's
probably talking about a situation with poor visibility (but it could be
any other dire situation) that a pilot deems it's time to set down.
Nothing wrong with the plane!).

--
Duncan.

Dave Doe writes:

There you go again - just NOT LISTENING. Read what he said (he's
probably talking about a situation with poor visibility (but it could be
any other dire situation) that a pilot deems it's time to set down.
Nothing wrong with the plane!).

Then it is also unrelated to the impossible turn.

On Feb 13, 7:33*am, Mxsmanic wrote:
terry writes:
Can you tell that an area in front of you is truly flat smooth and
safe from 500 feet altitude?

You can get a pretty good idea, and if it's reasonably close to flat and
smooth, it's still a better choice than trying to turn around.

If you can, can you also explain why
real pilots are taught to do precautionary search and landing passes
at 100 feet, if they need to make an emergency landing but still have
the power/time to do so?

If they don't have the power to turn around, they definitely don't have the
power to make any precautionary passes at 100 feet.

My point was that we do passes at 100 feet if we can because at
higher altitudes you cannot be sure the surface is suitable or safe.
To suggest
that a pilot might be making the decision to turn back just because he
is worried about damaging his airplane is nonsense.
A pilot knows with almost certainly that the runway is suitable and
safe to land on, if he can make it thus the temptation to turn back is
strong.
The focus should not be on whether you turn or not , it should be on
maintaining appropriate airspeed at all times until touchdown

terry writes:

My point was that we do passes at 100 feet if we can because at
higher altitudes you cannot be sure the surface is suitable or safe.

If your only engine fails on takeoff, doing passes at 100 feet is not an
option.

To suggest
that a pilot might be making the decision to turn back just because he
is worried about damaging his airplane is nonsense.

It's a very common reason for trying to turn around. In fact, it motivates
many poor decisions. People tend to assume that they'll survive, and then
worry about the cost of damage to the airplane.

A pilot knows with almost certainly that the runway is suitable and
safe to land on, if he can make it thus the temptation to turn back is
strong.

The problem is that he may believe that he can make it, but he can't.

The focus should not be on whether you turn or not , it should be on
maintaining appropriate airspeed at all times until touchdown

Turning is a great way to ensure that you lose the appropriate airspeed.