Originally Posted by
Maoraigh1
At near stall speed, I assume, or you'll still have the energy to get rid of.
Well obviously the lower the speed the better, but if the stone wall is looming in the windshield and you are still in the air then you may have to force the airplane to touchdown
now in order to start de-accelerating. This may include full forward stick. This is obviously a desperation move but slamming the airplane on, busting off the nose wheel and a violent stop with the nose digging in will be much more survivable than hitting that stone wall head on at flying speed.
I was at the local flying club yesterday and as it happened the turn back issue got raised by another fellow. He said he saw a for real turn back to a narrow dirt strip by a C 185. The engine failed at about 600 feet AGL and the pilot got it back with a steep bank and a final wild skidding turn to get lined up. He said it was a very impressive example of flying skill. I then asked if he knew why the engine failed. His reply "Oh the pilot forgot to turn the fuel on and the engine died when the collector tank emptied"................