FFF I agree....I came so close to deleting all comment about the turn back manouvre but with the caveats in red I decided to leave it sit. (since thought more and decided to delete it)
But if any pilot suffers an engine failure and just decides on the spur of the moment to try it I can absolutely gaurantee that the outcome will be stall,spin,crash, burn and die.
I also lost a mate and his girlfriend in a turnback after partial engine failure in a Tiger Moth...but the girlfriend was standing atop the top wing in a frame...he turned back because he was afraid she'd be killed if he flipped over landing straight ahead...her neck was broken in the crash and he died due to ingesting flame/super hot air while trying to free her from the burning wreckage.
When I learned the turnback I was doing an instructors rating..I practiced and practised...got to the point where I could slap the flaps down, whip the aircraft over on a wingtip and pull to the burble before whipping it back level...apart from anything else it was a $hitload of fun.
I own a Bonanza and mainly due to the fact that it lives in Oz and I'm here I have not flown it much...when I do get to fly it I'll try the manouvre but my gut feeling is that the aircraft WILL NOT DO IT. This based on the numerous glide approaches I have flown in the aircraft and the fact that A36s glide like an aerodynamically efficient manhole cover.
It is very probably, as you point out, not possible in every type of aircraft.
In general terms though all sorts of unusual manouvres should be taught and practiced...advanced stalling and lots of aeros when I was a young tyro saved my life more than once in the PNG highlands when bushflying later in C180s,185s and Helio Couriers...the average PPL who never flies more than basic straight & level type flying except every two years at the BFR is dangerous.
Chuck.
Last edited by Chimbu chuckles; 11th Jul 2002 at 06:40.