osxuser
Well Known Member
Ok, a poorly executed turn back will kill you. If you are giving someone instruction on them, then give them all the useful knowledge you can. A simple "Don't Turn Back" statement is in all honesty, about the worst thing you can tell an owner. I'd guess about 75 to 80% of owner/pilots will try it anyway with an engine failure at 500'.
This is NOT a procedure for every pilot to go out and try. This is a template for instructors to use to safely instruct students on turnback manuvers. As always, use at your own risk
First off every airplane is different, especially experimentals, there are a few steps to practice this safely that, when followed, will result in a safe procedure for each airplane.
1. Make sure both you and the owner are comfortable with the aircraft's flying characteristics, this means takeoff, landing, stalls, spins, slow flight.
2. Practice accelerated stalls at altitude, first with power, then without, and note what airspeed it stalls at, what the sink rate is, how much altitude is lost with the recovery.
3. Determine best glide speed, and come up with an average gliding distance per 100' altitude lost. Obviously the prop-stopped scenario will add gliding range. If you have a CS prop, you can practice glides (AT ALTITUDE) with the prop in HIGH pitch, this significantly stretches the glide.
4. (optional) Practicing commercial maneuvers in the airplane will help the student develop control and a feel for how the aircraft reacts in constantly changing bank, pitch and airspeed turns. I really like lazy 8s for this.
5. Practice downwind landings, know how much faster than ground looks at touchdown, how much more runway you'll use, etc. If you end up off the end of the runway, you mind as well have landed it off field.
6. Put all this together at altitude to start practicing turn backs.
A. Start with AT LEAST 3000' of altitude below you
B. Take the aircraft into slow flight in the takeoff configuration.
C. Start a Vy climb (if that is your normal climb profile), noting the point that you started.
D. At a minimum of 4000' chop the power (leave the fuel pump on for now...)
E. 3-5 seconds of reaction time.... Then best glide (predetermined)
F. Roll into a 60° (-15°, +0°), and keep the airplane coordinated throughout the roll-in and decent.
G. Roll out 220° from your start heading, then head directly back to your start point.
I. Did you make the point before you hit 3000'? Good, now rinse and repeat, but start the turnback at 3800' AGL, then 3600' until you start to hit the 3000' mark before you get to the point.
7. Now you can put in practice what you've learned in the traffic pattern, on a slow day, with a control tower if possible. Start your turnbacks at 1000' AGL, and work your way down until you wouldn't make it. Then set some personal minimums (100' above my average successful turnback is what I use), and practice the manuver when you get a chance. Also, always go over the options in your mind before takeoff.
If you do your first turnback in an unfamiler aircraft at 500' AGL and don't kill yourself, I would expect that you would probably have an opinion that turnbacks are all unsafe, but with thought, practice and planning, they are a very viable option, and should always be one of the things that run through the head of a pilot before takeoff.
The bad news is, there will always be people that don't practice them and try them, some with sucess, many without. I use my practice in the aircraft I fly as a guide when I turn off my Fuel Pump, and do the initial power reduction. I just practiced again last weekend, at 600' solo I can make the runway in the Cessna, with bags it'd be about 800' to 1000', not because the glide is worse, but because the climb angle suffers.
Also the split-S to final works, but it takes much more altitude than a simple turn-back, MUCH more. Also could depend on the aircraft type, I wouldn't do that in a Cessna at all, and probably not in an RV-9.
This is NOT a procedure for every pilot to go out and try. This is a template for instructors to use to safely instruct students on turnback manuvers. As always, use at your own risk
First off every airplane is different, especially experimentals, there are a few steps to practice this safely that, when followed, will result in a safe procedure for each airplane.
1. Make sure both you and the owner are comfortable with the aircraft's flying characteristics, this means takeoff, landing, stalls, spins, slow flight.
2. Practice accelerated stalls at altitude, first with power, then without, and note what airspeed it stalls at, what the sink rate is, how much altitude is lost with the recovery.
3. Determine best glide speed, and come up with an average gliding distance per 100' altitude lost. Obviously the prop-stopped scenario will add gliding range. If you have a CS prop, you can practice glides (AT ALTITUDE) with the prop in HIGH pitch, this significantly stretches the glide.
4. (optional) Practicing commercial maneuvers in the airplane will help the student develop control and a feel for how the aircraft reacts in constantly changing bank, pitch and airspeed turns. I really like lazy 8s for this.
5. Practice downwind landings, know how much faster than ground looks at touchdown, how much more runway you'll use, etc. If you end up off the end of the runway, you mind as well have landed it off field.
6. Put all this together at altitude to start practicing turn backs.
A. Start with AT LEAST 3000' of altitude below you
B. Take the aircraft into slow flight in the takeoff configuration.
C. Start a Vy climb (if that is your normal climb profile), noting the point that you started.
D. At a minimum of 4000' chop the power (leave the fuel pump on for now...)
E. 3-5 seconds of reaction time.... Then best glide (predetermined)
F. Roll into a 60° (-15°, +0°), and keep the airplane coordinated throughout the roll-in and decent.
G. Roll out 220° from your start heading, then head directly back to your start point.
I. Did you make the point before you hit 3000'? Good, now rinse and repeat, but start the turnback at 3800' AGL, then 3600' until you start to hit the 3000' mark before you get to the point.
7. Now you can put in practice what you've learned in the traffic pattern, on a slow day, with a control tower if possible. Start your turnbacks at 1000' AGL, and work your way down until you wouldn't make it. Then set some personal minimums (100' above my average successful turnback is what I use), and practice the manuver when you get a chance. Also, always go over the options in your mind before takeoff.
If you do your first turnback in an unfamiler aircraft at 500' AGL and don't kill yourself, I would expect that you would probably have an opinion that turnbacks are all unsafe, but with thought, practice and planning, they are a very viable option, and should always be one of the things that run through the head of a pilot before takeoff.
The bad news is, there will always be people that don't practice them and try them, some with sucess, many without. I use my practice in the aircraft I fly as a guide when I turn off my Fuel Pump, and do the initial power reduction. I just practiced again last weekend, at 600' solo I can make the runway in the Cessna, with bags it'd be about 800' to 1000', not because the glide is worse, but because the climb angle suffers.
Also the split-S to final works, but it takes much more altitude than a simple turn-back, MUCH more. Also could depend on the aircraft type, I wouldn't do that in a Cessna at all, and probably not in an RV-9.
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