Very interesting points Pull_What,
With regard to the safety brief, I've always done this with passengers in the aircraft, but before startup. I save the captain's brief until after the power checks.
You're absolutely right in every case. Obviously I'm referring to "I" when I say "we", but there's clearly no point in doing the brief if it could cause further confusion. I'll use "I" in future, which is an easy fix
Again, when I say "encounter a problem", I do mean "in the event that the aircraft is unflyable", but like you say, I should be more specific about the circumstances that will result in aborting the takeoff, especially since the main purpose of the brief is an attempt to condition my response to an emergency.
Landing back on the runway is an interesting prospect. That's certainly one part of the brief I'm guilty of repeating parrot-fashion. I'm not sure that in the event of an EFATO, I'd be able to accurately determine whether I had enough runway ahead to land.
I wouldn't favour flying into a housing estate in favour of a field 15 degrees further on, but where do you draw the line? In the book "The Killing Zone", the author advises heading into trees under controlled flight rather than attempting to turn too far and risking a stall / spin. I'm sure that judgement improves with experience, but chances of engine failure through mismanagement are higher with lack of experience!
Thanks for your comments, I'm still a new PPL and learning all the time
Joel.