I am an eye witness to a guy whose engine quit and it appeared he tried to turn back, but he stalled and went straight down and perished. That was 4 years ago and I can still see it like it was yesterday. "slow is smooth and smooth is fast"
This all boils down to knowing your aircraft. Practice Practice Practice slow flight. The odds of turning back for a student pilot is slim to none but a pilot with tons of hours in type has a very good chance of making it back assuming enough altitude has been gained. Just because the rulebook says something doesn't mean its always correct. We have to use common sense as pilots. Again, the single most important factor is pilot qualifications. Total hours doesn't really matter either. Its more about the type of flying done . The average Stol pilot like me is very comfortable flying at slow speeds . It's our responsibility as pilots to be proficient in all aspects of flight. The weekend warriors that just fly every now and then for the 200$ hamburger likely is not competent in any emergency procedure simply because they don't fly enough. I'm definitely turning back every time in my plane if that's my best chance of saving lives.
45 deg bank is optimal at 1.4 stall speed.
I am an eye witness to a guy whose engine quit and it appeared he tried to turn back, but he stalled and went straight down and perished. That was 4 years ago and I can still see it like it was yesterday.
"slow is smooth and smooth is fast"
This all boils down to knowing your aircraft. Practice Practice Practice slow flight. The odds of turning back for a student pilot is slim to none but a pilot with tons of hours in type has a very good chance of making it back assuming enough altitude has been gained. Just because the rulebook says something doesn't mean its always correct. We have to use common sense as pilots. Again, the single most important factor is pilot qualifications. Total hours doesn't really matter either. Its more about the type of flying done . The average Stol pilot like me is very comfortable flying at slow speeds . It's our responsibility as pilots to be proficient in all aspects of flight. The weekend warriors that just fly every now and then for the 200$ hamburger likely is not competent in any emergency procedure simply because they don't fly enough. I'm definitely turning back every time in my plane if that's my best chance of saving lives.
Great presentation but please stop saying “we don’t want to critique AOPA”. Please, if they deserve criticism give it to them!