Originally Posted by
Desert185
I live and fly in the mountains, and have flown and taught search and rescue. We never advocate any course reversal other than a steep turn, slow and with flaps. Its the most survivable reversal.
A good hammerhead requires energy. When flying in the canyons, it is common to fly slower than cruise speed to reduce turn radius, which limits hammerhead capability.
Yeah, that's pretty much my take on it. By the time you've let the situation develop to the point where a course reversal in a confined area is critical, you're almost certainly not going to have the energy to do a hammerhead. This just isn't the sort of situation that suddenly pops up in front of you while you're tooling along at cruise speed. And at least in my part of the world, there's also usually bad weather involved, which is why you were down in the valleys to begin with. Below the terrain in marginal visual conditions is not a great time for aerobatics.