Turn back to the airport - the Impossible Turn

[SonexN76ET]

This post is insensitive and will likely offend many of you. For this I apologize up front. But, this has to be said. Hopefully it will save someone's life.

I recently read an article in the AOPA magazine where the author recounted two engine failures in his career where he was able to make a 180 turn and return to the runway. One was in a seaplane. In his case I believe it was a case of dumb luck mixed with some skill. Let's face it, he was lucky. I also know of several pilots who lost an engine and landed straight ahead and damaged their airplanes but walked away. A guy here in Atlanta recently lost his engine on takeoff on his 6 place aircraft glided past an abandoned factory with a huge vacant parking lot and then stalled and spun into heavy rush hour traffic on the interstate. in some of the recent Sonex accidents it appears the pilots were trying the Impossible Turn as well. They all died.

We need to quit dying senselessly. Damn it, if you loose an engine on takeoff do not succumb to the temptation to make a turn for the airport at anything below 800 felt AGL. If you do, you will die. Just don't do it!

Maintain best glide spread and find the softest thing ahead of you to land on and make a normal landing. Odds are you will walk away.

I love you guys and don't want to see anyone else get hurt.

Jake

[Sonex1517]

As someone just getting back to flying after a 5 year hiatus, all I can say is thank you for posting it. My BFR is scheduled tomorrow morning and I have spent part of this week trying to review what I knew a while ago. This was one of those items I spent time reviewing and hope comes up in the BFR.

[MichaelFarley56]

Thank you for posting this Jake.

As a long time CFI, I couldn't agree more with your thoughts. Too many people get into trouble trying this "impossible turn" among other attempts to save the airplane. I firmly believe we homebuilders are at an additional disadvantage given our special attachment to our creations. Certified airplane owners spend a lot of money to purchase their airplanes, but they don't spend years building them. That attachment has the potential to affect our decision making process during an emergency since we don't want to destroy our cherished "babies."

Here are a few pointers that I always try to enforce during the Flight Reviews I administer:

1. Always have a plan or a way out. As you prepare to fly out of you home airport, study the local area to see what potential landing sites are available. Maybe you can land straight ahead when departing off one runway, while a slight turn may be necessary when departing the opposite direction. Watch for housing developments, other airports, open fields, etc. Always have a plan!

2. If you lose power, PUSH THE STICK! We're all humans and if we lose power it will take a few seconds to process this information. Start making it muscle memory to push the stick if your engine goes out in order to preserve airspeed. This leaves you options in the moments to follow.

3. It's a terrible thought to consider, but if your engine quits, starting at that very instant, the insurance company owns the airplane. Don't try to save the airplane; your only mission is to save yourself. Sacrifice the airplane to save yourself if you need to.

You're right Jake. We all need to be careful out there! Thank you again for posting this.

[Gripdana]

PUSH. You would be surprised how far forward you have to push when the engine goes out. Mine went out during slow flight testing during a stall. PUSH and fly the plane,always have a plan.

[N111YX]

It's always good to refresh this topic every now and again but allow me add...

Every pilot that has tried the turn and failed knew well enough not to attempt it and likely would have told you to how wrong it is right before their last takeoff. I had RPM's roll back in an Arrow because of a bad prop governor once and I thought the engine was failing. I had no place in front of me to go other than trees. What was my overwhelming instinct? Turn. Luckily, the engine ran well enough to climb. I was shocked by the level of desire to turn while knowing the record of those who did before.

My point is that the important decision may not be whether to make the turn or not, but rather to crash or not. When faced with zero options ahead, I think many dead pilots knew the Golden Rule quite well but for the mind to switch gears and accept personal injury goes against survival instincts and it's difficult to overrule such entrenched logic in a matter of a few seconds.

Because of my experience, I have no disrespect for those that had nothing ahead but still tried to turn.

[Msing48]

On the same note, I have known two men that died, most likely from trying to stretch their glide to an unobstructed area only to stall short of clearing the trees. RULE #1 is KEEP FLYING THE PLANE !!!

[Sonerai13]

On the same note, I have known two men that died, most likely from trying to stretch their glide to an unobstructed area only to stall short of clearing the trees. RULE #1 is KEEP FLYING THE PLANE !!!

It is far better to fly into trees at a controlled minimum airspeed than to stall and hit the trees in an extreme nose-down attitude with more than minimum speed. In fact, any angled impact with minimum speed will be far more survivable than a vertical impact at more than minimum speed (usually much more). I've been involved in several accident investigations, all of which resulted in "uncontrolled flight into terrain/water", which is FAA-speak for stall/spin. It's never pretty, and almost universally fatal.

Mike's comments about having a plan and studying the areas surrounding the airport in advance couldn't be more spot-on. Know your options before you need to choose one! Modify your operations if necessary to give you more or better options.

One last thought; DON'T DO INTERSECTION TAKEOFFS unless you know for sure that you have an "out" in case of engine failure. An intersection takeoff puts you at lower altitude at the airport boundary, which in turn narrows your options drastically. Remember those "three things useless to a pilot".

[vwglenn]

After my T-flight training (thanks again Joe) I knew I would be hitting the pattern in my Sonex very soon. Given the engine in my plane was rebuilt and had very low time on it, the possibility of an engine failure was in the forefront of my mind. My home airport would not be kind to an engine failure so I made sure I had a couple alternate spots to go if I lost the engine on takeoff. To the southeast there is an unfinished subdivision. The road is finished but the houses are not built. I made sure I took a trip down that road to verify there weren't any power lines and the road was in good shape. To the Northwest I could only find one decent option. There is a golf course fairway about 30 degrees right of the runway. It's not entirely level but it's smooth enough.

I practiced the impossible turn in my 170 at an appropriate altitude and no where near a runway. When completely ready for the simulated failure and with some practice, I could make the turn losing an average of about 400 feet in altitude if memory serves. And that was under ideal conditions. What I gained from it was to not even bother trying to turn back unless I was above 1000 AGL. I imagine that an actual engine failure would take a much longer time to react to. First you actually have to process that the engine quit. That might take a moment to sink in. Then there's the panic once it does sink in and you'll have the fight or flight response where you're frozen for some degree of time. Hopefully you have the flight response which will tell you to fly the plane. By the time you process all that, you've probably lost 100 feet or more. Your primeval brain will want nothing more than to head back to the sweet safety of the runway and you're just going to have to fight that impulse and win. You must win.

Screw the plane! Better that it's broken than me. I had my CFI friend pull the power back to simulate the standard engine failure during my last BFR in the old 170. I immediately pointed the plane at a pasture. He asked me why don't I try to make a nearby runway which is pretty close. I told him I wasn't sure I could make the airport but I knew I could make the pasture. We headed to the runway for training and I made it...barely...which was a good learning experience about the capabilities of the airplane. But I would still take the pasture every single time if there was even a flicker of doubt.

I'm also reminded of the "runway behind you" thing every time I take off in my Sonex. In the old Cessna I could put the main on the very edge of the runway threshold as I taxied out to the center line. My low wing Sonex won't let me do that without removing the threshold lights. So I lose 10 feet of runway on every takeoff now.

[fastj22]

If you are comfortable with spinning your Sonex, I highly recommend doing a simulated impossible turn at a safe altitude. Note your altitude, simulate a climb out, cut the throttle and try to do a hard 180. Note the altitude loss when you reach the new course. Or note the spin if you push it too hard. Either will teach you respect on what your plane can and can't do.
If you are not comfortable spinning your Sonex, I highly recommend getting spin training to know what happens when you push an airplane beyond its aerodynamic capabilities. Just don't eat a big breakfast before you do it.

[Rynoth]

Good discussion. Just keep in mind that an aggressive 180 turn will most likely leave you: #1 offset from the runway center-line, and #2 some distance from the end of the runway. I say this only to keep in mind that additional altitude will be required to reach and align with the runway, which is hard to simulate at altitude. I.E. several hundred extra feet. I'll do tests myself once my plane is complete, but my general rule of thumb is not to attempt a turn-back below 1000 feet AGL.