I can't believe downwind turns seem to have come up again...
I'm supprised that no one has mentioned what effect the length of runway has to do with whether or not a turnback can be done or not....If I take off from say 2000m of tarmac in my Super Cub and climb away....I'll be pretty high by the end of the runway and while I admit I've never tried it for fear of some instructor telling me off I'm pretty sure that I could land back again. There was an article in
Flyer recently that covered them and actually it was quite positive. Just try finding an instructor who is prepared to teach them though
.