One size doesn't fit everyone - some pilots may know how their RV flys a couple knots above stall at various angles of bank; others do not - and shouldn't even consider a turnback turn.
Everyone can have an opinion - just because you don't agree with mine shouldn't be a cause for Christmas consternation.
The old adage - learn from the mistakes of others - no way you will live long enough to make 'em all yourself.
Paul, please understand, I am not trying to be combative.
And I agree with much of what you say...
You are correct, one size does not fit everyone, how aggressively you can fly depends on you, not what you read on VAF.
And I agree and understand that a Navy fighter pilot would want to point the lift vector towards the ground to use gravity to reduce the energy needed to get turned around.
However it won't work. The ultimate example of this would be a reverse cuban, and that altitude would be at least 1000 feet with a 4 G pull, and without power, it might take more than that. With a 6 G pull, you probably would be stalling going straight down. Turning past 90 will not improve performance. That would be suicide...
And finally, I agree with Learning from others mistakes...
The majority of the people who try this aren't alive to tell us about the results, so we have to "learn" from their accident reports....
To Learn means to change behavior and that means the default action on an EFATO should be to lower the nose and pick a spot, ahead of the wings into the wind, and land at the slowest possible speed.
All the internet discussions in the world about how to pull off a turn-back will not improve the statistics. Training for it close the ground is deadly. Training for it at altitude is counter productive for a host of reasons.
What will reduce fatalities is if we continue to make people aware of the reasons that almost ALL respected aviation professionals, flight training organizations, and the FAA advocate against turning back.
So you ask, When would I turn back?
If straight ahead means certain death, then of course, but never to save the airplane.
Otherwise, I want enough altitude to turn back to the airport with a reasonable bank angle, and then assess the situation and if I don't like it, still have altitude to get turned into the wind for an off airport landing. In the Rocket, with flat pitch and some margin, that is around 1200 ft.
Landing off airport, being into the wind is critical. A 10 knot wind at 50 kts gets you down to 40 kts at impact. Downwind, that brings you up to 60 kts. The difference in survivability is huge. Probably twice as deadly...
The Defender of Don't turn back..
Doug Rozendaal
F-1 EVO