The Improbable Turn Webinar
The Improbable Turn Webinar Video
Greetings Folks:
Here's a webinar on a topic known as "The Improbable Turn." I had the pleasure of working with my two speaking partners, Russ Still of Gold Seal Flight Training and David St. George of SAFE. This purpose of this program was to discuss the when, where, and why of the maneuver as well as cover the controversy surrounding it. It wasn't to discuss the techniques for doing this maneuver. A good aerobatics instructor can help you with this.
YES, there is controversy but not for the reason you might think. The controversy isn't over doing the maneuver. It's a given that it can be done safely but only if you have the altitude, training and proficiency to do it. However, it should not be done if there's an acceptable landing area in front of the airplane's wings. But if you have the altitude, training and proficiency to pull this off and there is no safe place to land ahead of the wings, I don't expect you to choose the less safe action and land straight ahead. That's not only silly, it's irresponsible.
The controversy here is that there are individuals that don't want the maneuver to be discussed, period. That's a shame because I've never known anyone to be more educated by being deprived of information. The fact is that you are better off learning the how, when, where and why of the "turn around" maneuver than not learning about it. Why? Consider this.
When a squirrel runs 2/3rds the distance across a road and is shocked to see an oncoming car, what does it do? Yes, it runs back, the long way, to its original starting point. Often, it doesn't make it, thus the origin of the phrase, "Where the rubber meets the rodent." The squirrel's behavior is triggered by the memory of the last safe place it rested--the place it sat before it ran across the road. It instinctively returns to that spot when threatened. Many pilots who've experienced an engine failure on takeoff have the same instinct to turn back to the runway where they felt relatively safe and less threatened. This can be a fatal instinct.
This is why a responsible education on the "turn around" maneuver actually makes pilots safer. How? Because teaching pilots how to perform the maneuver also teaches them when NOT TO DO THE MANEUVER (none of the maneuver's detractors ever recognize, much less give credence to this point). In other words, it trains them to behave against their "turn around" instincts instead of blindly following them. My guess is that most folks who have tried to turn around and failed (perished) did so because they obeyed their instincts and not because they were properly trained in the "turn around" maneuver.
That said, you should never attempt to turn around unless you have sufficient altitude, adequate training and proficiency to pull it off, and there's no safe place to land the airplane straight ahead. Period.
Sincerely,
Rod Machado (www.rodmachado.com)
Information Warfare | Organizational Strategy
7 年Thanks for sharing Rod. I had an engine out at ~400 AGL on departure a few years ago. I only had about a second to make a decision, and that’s all it took. Luckily for me there was an open, if very short, field off the departure end. I put it down fast, and wound up down an embankment, totalling the plane. All I could think about in that second was where do I put this thing down without killing somebody (preferably myself included). If I had tried to make the turn, I would have likely crashed in an occupied building. While the plane was a loss I walked away unscathed (well, my pride was pretty bruised up). I was able to make the right decision because my instructor and I had talked about it, and practiced it (at safe altitudes), so I knew when it happened that I didn’t have the altitude to make it. Know yourself, know your equipment, and have the tough conversations. It will help you survive. This is an impotant topic. Don’t stop talking about it.