"Dennis O'Connor" wrote in message ...
You absolutely, flatly, cannot turn back and you will die if you try...
Now, I will not go into my usual tirade on this topic, however I expect the
usual suspects to jump all over this with their claims of 'proof' that they
tried it and they succeeded...
Sadly, some will read their garbage, tuck it away into their memory bank,
and for a few the day will come when they lose an engine on climb out and
they will turn back - and die...

That's probably because the debate is not that you "absolutely,
flatly, cannot turn back and you will die if you try", it's more a
question of how much altitude you need to have before you are able to
turn back and live.

As a somewhat extreme example: A few years ago I busted an exhaust
header on climbout and had to shut the engine down. I easily turned
back and glided to the runway. I even flew a pattern and slipped a
little on final. Of course, with ~3500 ft. of altitude when I shut
down the engine, I wasn't too worried about dying because I turned
back :-) It's all in the details!

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)