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Good video on the impossible turn

I found it interesting that the pilot's immediate reaction was to turn right, when a left turn would have gotten him back to a runway more quickly. And this was at his home airport, where you'd think his familiarity with the runway layout would have led him to turn left. It makes me wonder what I would do if faced with a similar situation: would I also go into instinct mode (probably) or would I be able to put my brain into mental overdrive, quickly assess which runway would be closest, and make a turn in the appropriate direction (probably not).

I suspect that instincts will almost always rule in this sort of situation, and that I'd benefit from training myself to have the right ones. It would be interesting to hear from the military and professional pilots on the site: do you follow specific procedures prior to takeoff so you will instinctively take the right actions in the event of an engine failure on takeoff? If so, what are those procedures?
 
The other thing you notice - and a lot of people forget this when they are thinking about this turn - that as soon as the engine quit, the stall warning started blaring. You have to push the nose over hard to get flying speed - especially if you were doing a "hero" takeoff with lots of flaps.

Practicing it from cruise is not a valid comparison, you have to be near the stall speed when you practice it.

sj
 
good idea to fly out to satellite airport that has little traffic and practice returning to airport in idle power setting from 300/400/500'. it is easily done in my cub but practice is a good thing and i only practice when the weather is warm for shock cooling reasons.
gary
 
turn

Hard to say what anyone will do with a sudden situation or even what the same person will do the next time. The surprise is so complete that it can tend to make you freeze and cost you precious seconds.

By trying to expect trouble you can alleviate some of this, my rule is ,if its still making power,,,any power and not on fire or shaking itself off the plane I keep her lit. At that point I could care less if I destroy the engine getting it on the ground as long as I don't bend the plane or myself.

I agree, it looks like a left turn would have placed him over clear ground quicker. It seems to me that leaving the gear up may have been a better choice given the deep snow on the ground and way better glide ratio with the wheels up. The Mooney's with a Johnson bar gear are very quick and easy to deploy with nothing but elbow grease. Still over the snow slide her in and not risk going over! You will do way less damage to the plane sliding on its belly than if you go over or tear the gear off.

Just my opinion,,, results will vary!!!!!
Dave
 
I have never tried this in my Bonanza, but we do this as standard procedure in gliders. Part of the pre-takeoff check calls out "when the rope breaks I will turn____" The direction of turn is into the wind. If not above 200 feet we go with what we got ahead. On most occasions you have to be very aggressive with flaps and spoilers to get it stopped before running off the other end.
 
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