You’re flying a single engine aircraft and your engine fails shortly after take-off. What do you do? You’ll lower the nose to maintain airspeed and land somewhere in front of you, not to far left or right. Because you know that turns will cost you altitude, and you don’t want to make a tight 180 degrees turn towards the runway behind you. There is a reason why this is called the impossible turn, isn’t it? Flying steep turns at low altitude without power is what you learned NOT to do. Because this ends in stall and possibly spin. The type known as graveyard spin.
You know that because your instructor told you. May be you even simulated that. Turning back towards the airport is tempting because this is a place you know, where you can land and get assistance easily. Save the plane. But you first duty as pilot in command is to save the occupants, and turning back to the airport is not the best way to do it.
Why this post? Why now? Because sometimes unusual things happen. Look at this video before you continue reading…
It look like this Mooney pilot did fly the impossible turn. At first, kudos to him to saving the plane and its occupants. Now, a few observations:
- The engine noise is scary and this must be very stressing
- It’s hard to say if some power was still available or not
- The altitude and position of the airport are not easy to guess
- The turns seem really steep to me
- There are lots of openings, and also this other runway available
The camera view being much narrower than the human vision it’s hard to get a good idea of the whole situation. But it pretty much looks like the pilot did fly the impossible turn. There have been lots of discussions because this video has been released by the AOPA Air Safety Foundation and many think it’s not a good example.
Seeing it does not change my ideas about the impossible turn. I think that pilots are smart enough to recognize something out of the ordinary when they see it, and won’t try to make this at home. This pilot certainly quite experienced and knows this plane well. He made something great happen but we must not forget about all those who failed while attempting to do the same thing.
Do you feel like you could do it? Then I suggest that you go out and try with a GPS and possibly an instructor. Why the GPS? Because you’ll need a waypoint to reproduce the exercise shown in this video.
If you can do it, let me know. I’d love to publish your video then. But for now, I still consider the impossible turn as being impossible.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Back when I was young(er) and stupid(er), I once attempted “the impossible turn” in my Cessna 150 at my home field- 3,200 foot runway. It was a quiet evening with no other planes in the pattern.
I made a normal takeoff, and then when passing the departure end at about 300 feet agl I pulled the throttle to idle. I rolled immediately to the right, stepped full down on the right rudder pedal and sharply lowered the nose, thinking that an unloaded wing won’t stall. It didn’t. Trouble was, as sharp as my turn was, when I reversed course I was not lined up with the runway. So I had to maneuver. And now I was downwind – and really going fast! Remember, I started this fiasco right at the departure end, so by now I had used up a LOT of the 3,200 foot runway going the other way. I quickly realized that if I pushed through with the exercise I would run off the approach end of the runway still going at a pretty good clip. So I aborted the aborted landing and went around.
It was this demonstration that convinced me that if the engine ever really did quit on takeoff below 500 feet, the best thing to do is just land straight ahead. Once you get above 500 feet (and get some airspeed) your options improve greatly, to maybe include a return to the field. All the more reason in any airplane to climb at VX until you get some altitude and not just go zooming out in a fast, shallow climb.
There are simply too many variables to say: Never attempt “the impossible turn!” Taking off from a larger airport (like the one the Mooney took off from) gives you plenty more room to work with than a little single-runway airport out in the country with trees all around like my home base (82J). And of course it depends on the nature of the power failure. That Mooney reportedly had a cracked head on one of the cylinders. So unless the pilot intentionally pulled the power off (which may have been instinctive), the engine was producing at least a little thrust. In any event it did not completely fail.
Like so many things in aviation, the predicted success or failure of “the impossible turn” will always be, “It depends.”
The impossible turn is impossible. But this wasn’t an impossible turn. By the looks of it the runway was very long and he had an above average amount of height a short distance from the field (because the long runway he was able to climb over runway). Therefore he had more height to work with closer to the airport than most pilots.
A great job by the pilot all the same.
We had a lot of debate at VFRFlight.net forum about this topic.
A user came up with this interesting resource:
http://www.aerobats.com/seminar_02-07.html
@Bob: thank you for sharing.
@Rob: I’m also not sure if this is the runway he took-off from.
@ClaF: thank you for the link.
I still think that it’s PIC duty to keep the occupants and aircraft safe. If there were hard rules, we would know about them. The impossible turn is impossible… most of time. It also depends of how it is defined. I remember of one simulated engine failure very shortly after take-off, over a 6.000 feet runway. The best choice was to put the nose down and re-land asap, even if this meant destroying altitude the best possible way.
Maybe the better (compared to C172 et. al.) glide ratio of a Mooney helped too?
@Thomas: I think what helped is also the better climb ratio of a Mooney
Great post!!! Incredible video.
I hope I could do it but frankly I’m not sure. As you saw with the Mooney pilot, every second counted: he had no more runway left and no more options. . .
Thanks for posting. As long as we fly piston aircraft (or any aircraft, for that matter), proficiency and training will keep us alive.
Best,
Jon
This also reminds us why we should climb at Vx until reaching an altitude offering more options. Every foot above ground counts. What are your own habits? I was taught to climb Vx until clearing obstacles, and I’m now not sure it’s the good thing to do.
Vy surely Vincent? Best rate, not best angle?
Out of interest I thought the turns were rather *shallow*. I have played with this at altitude, and came up with a minimum height loss of 25o-300ft from Vy. Engine to idle, immediate 60(+) degrees of bank and pull to buffet. One thing to do that at 5000ft, another at 500.
I believe the key is, if in doubt, DON’T. I don’t believe it’s an impossible turn, but far more people are killed trying to make it, than are killed by not doing so: Sliding across a field in a broken aeroplane is less likely to kill you than stalling in. Just balance of probability.
Mark, I was a bit confused when I wrote my last comment, obviously.
First climb at Vx to clear the obstacles: best angle of climb, because obstacles don’t move.
Then climb at Vy: best rate to get as high as possible in the shorter possible time and create more options.
Given the G load resulting from a 60° steep turn (2G) I’m quite surprised by your figures. What for an aircraft was that?
Sorry Vincent, was teasing gently
Aircraft was an Alpha 160 – a license built Robin2160. Remember that 2G only applies to a LEVEL turn, and that figure was for 180 only, not back to a ‘runway’. The caveat of course is that it’s aerobatic, and I was in current practise spinning it – but in all honesty, I never felt it wanted to get away.
Anyway, the technique that seemed to work best was to immediately roll into a very steep bank, without even bothering to put the nose down, over bank and under-pull if that makes sense? using the stick for speed, while allowing the nose to drop through the horizon, and the airspeed to come back to around best glide, or a bit faster. Depending on how it went you’d be rolling off some bank later in the turn. My thinking is that whilst the hard turn is undoubtedly bad for performance in terms of feet-per-minute, you spend an awful lot less time turning, and fly less distance. It also keeps you closer in, and closer to the centreline.
BUT I don’t recommend it! It’s a very different thing to play what-if with 5000ft of clear air underneath you.. would I try it for real? Only in-extremis, if straight ahead looked pretty bleak (e.g. housing estate). I think I prefer it to wallying around in a rate1 turn, but the point in the exercise was to get an order of magnitude feel. I think it tallies well enough with the under 500ft don’t think about it school of thought. My ab-initio instructor told me ‘once the engine stops, the aeroplane belongs to the insurance company – your job is to walk away’ Sound advice I think.
The only other observation I’d make is who cares if you get back to a runway. Airfields generally have lots of open space without significant obstacles, and often with emergency services. Personally IF I turned back, I’d aim for most convenient chunk of real estate, and stuff where the black bits were; mowing down the odd taxiway sign would hardly be a bad outcome.
/Mark.
Thanks for the complement Mark. I’m personally not very enclined to fly aerobatics…
It’s true that coming back to an airport is good in terms of emergency serivces. If you have time to warn the tower, they’ll send the firebrigade to you, if one is available. I had an alternator failure once, and came back to Geneva (LSGG), towered airport with international airlines trafic. They cleared me to land from very far out so I could switch everything off. I turned the radios on again on final for a wind-check. I was welcomed by three fire trucks… just in case, even if I did not ask for it.
Hi Vincent,
Nice blog you got here going. Keep up the good work. Loved the post… Reminds me of the days I was flying the stick and rudder.
Long time ago though.
Greets, Sam
F/O A380
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