On Sun, 5 Feb 2006 10:12:53 -0600, "Tater Schuld"
wrote:


"J.Kahn" wrote in message
. ..

For powerplanes, it would be prudent to go to a safe altitude and practice
180s upon chopping power and noting the altitude loss with optimum

You need to do more than reverse direction. You need to get back on
the original centerline. Me? I'll take anything big enough and flat
enough, otherwise I'll take what's there.

technique (although it's murder on the poor cylinders, best to use a
renter...). The least loss is with a hard 45 deg banked turn. If with
some practice you can confidently complete a 180 with say a 400 ft

So you aren't going to try for the runway you just left which is
pretty much the equivalent of a 270. A 180 might get you to the
airport if it's big enough.


altitude loss you can set a defined go-nogo limit of say 500 ft for
turnbacks and you've removed the guesswork from it.

I dont know. doing this at altitude makes the manuver safe, and learning to
perfect it that way can give the pilot overconfidence.

best to make sure your'e never in the situation that call for such a

The only way to do that is to never get in an airplane. Here we only
have one runway out of four that really gives you an out and even then
you are looking at merging with express way traffic, IF you can make
it over, or under the over pass.

manuver, and take the taime to make sur the plane works rather than building
confidence that you can do what others haven't

Engines quit, even new ones. Some times they give warning and a lot
of times they don't. Mine quit on take off with no warning, not even
a hiccup. It went from full power to silence all of a sudden.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com