Trying the Impossible Turn
I had a go at the Impossible Turn stuff today, albeit with a 2,000' AGL hard deck. The problem with being that high is trying to judge how far you have travelled horizontally for the loss of height. The trick I used was to zoom in the GPS (MemoryMap using CAA 1:250K charts) to maximum and start the climb when crossing a particular road.
Climbing to 300' and then simulating engine failure I couldn't make it back to the road without sinking through my 'hard deck'. I could do it with a 500' engine cut, so I guess this means that for an EFATO below 500' there’s no option but to land ahead. At 500' or above it might be possible to get back on to the field, probably with a down wind landing and only if the prospects of landing ahead were less inviting.
It was an interesting exercise, although I don't want to think about what would happen if a four second delay was introduced (to simulate the pilot’s recognition of the problem and to start to react).
Safe Flying,
Richard W.