PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Engine failure after takeoff - turn back?
Old 26th January 2013 | 08:32
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24Carrot
 
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 517
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From: London UK
When comparing 4000ft with 400ft, remember that air density comes into this. It might be about 15% lower at 4000ft. And the difference could easily be bigger as you are probably talking about different days in different countries.

Assuming that the IAS and so all the forces and accelerations are identical in the two cases, I believe there are two effects:

1) The lower air density implies a higher TAS. The Glide angle should be the same, so your rate of descent should be the same fraction of a higher true airspeed. You come down faster if the air density is lower.

2) The turning acceleration should be the same, but one of the formulae for centripetal acceleration is "omega vee" i.e. Turn Rate times True Airspeed. As the TAS is higher, the turn rate must be lower. You turn more slowly if the air density is lower.

Each effect is proportional to the square root of the density, so in combination the effect is proportional to the density.

Everything else being equal, the difference in your comparison is about 60 ft.

An extreme bank angle, i.e. cramming the turn into just a few seconds, might reduce the difference, but I'm not sure.
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