Colin wrote:

Newps wrote:



Jeff wrote:

I have it in my head, If I lose power, I will continue straight ahead and hope
for the best spot. TUrning around seems more risky, depending on altitude and
where the engine quits at.

It can be risky, it may not be. Go try it in your airplane. In a
Cessna you climb at 70 knots, pull the power, enter a 45 degree bank,
maintain 70 knots and see how much altitude you lose.


While you are doing this, try the same 180 degree turn with much
higher bank angle, lower airspeed, and full opposite rudder - yes, a
side slip. The amount of bank will be determined by the ability to
hold the nose up by rudder. Sounds crazy ?
Although the descent rate is much higher, the turn rate is so high due
to the low airspeed and high bank angle that you are actually better
off. But that is not all, you come out of the manoever at landing
speed, whereas attempts to 'fly' the a/c round a tight enough turn
usually result in high airspeed or spin off the turn.

Well the ideal bank angle is 60 degrees but 45 is a good compromise. In
my 182 I only need 350 feet to turn around and land on the same runway.
Anything less than that and I ain't gonna be slippin' just to get
around. In that case I'll land straight ahead, more or less. I'll be
OK, I got big tires.