Old CFI/ATP/A&P here. If you want to be an old GA pilot, fly
paranoid. Assume mentally that the worst possible **** is going to
happen at the worst time to you, so that when it doesn't you can be
pleasantly surprised and the few times it does you will be so used to
entertaining disaster that it won't really rattle you. Don't fly much
at night in singles at first. It's dumb. When you do; keep a strip
within gliding distance. Not doing runups after the first t/o really
hasn't killed too many people. Most engine failures are on the first
power reduction. Odd's are, the guys you see doing this know/have
built their birds and they're comfortable skipping runups (just like
you do on touch and go's.) But you always run up till about 800hrs.
You need to engrain the same routine habit patterns. Don't fly on
schedules. This, sooner or later will have you pressing bad weather
or near sunset. Listen to war stories. Go flying a lot with friends
who are real experienced. Old guys are really young guys who didn't
get killed by their mistakes. And on the runway turnback issue, this
is PURELY a PIC decision. There's just too many different
environments, aircraft, pilot skill levels, and currency issues to
make absolute rules on. Don't think about it until you've practiced
it some with an instructor. Start high (1000 ft) on the first ones.
Pay attention to the wind before you take off and plan which direction
and altitude you will attempt the 180 on (we call this an "engine out
briefing" in the airlines.) Lastly, remember that you're not going to
live forever, so try to enjoy this general aviation insanity. They're
probably going to outlaw it anyway in about fifty years!

Good Luck,

pacplyer


ET wrote in message .. .
"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in
:



Jeff wrote:

I have it in my head, If I lose power, I will continue straight ahead
and hope for the best spot. TUrning around seems more risky,
depending on altitude and where the engine quits at.

One thing you can do is to get in the habit of departing at best angle
of climb. Transition to best rate of climb a bit above the altitude at
which you could reasonably expect to be able to return to the field.
If the rubber band breaks and you haven't transitioned to best ROC
yet, don't even think about turning around; just try to hit the
cheapest thing around as slowly as possible.

George Patterson
This marriage is off to a shaky start. The groom just asked the
band to play "Your cheatin' heart", and the bride just requested
"Don't come home a'drinkin' with lovin' on your mind".


As I've thought more and more about getting my PPL and building a plane,
it's these engine failure on takeoff accidents that bother me the most.

It's been mentioned here that statistically, flying GA is about as
dangerous as driving a motorcycle. Statistics can be misleading, of
course. I used to ride motorcycles, and have done my share of "stupid"
things, but the most danger in riding a motorcycle is more the stupid
actions of other drivers, especially regarding the decreased visibility of
the MC to other drivers. So to increase safety in driving a motorcycle,
you constantly have to imagine your invisible and that every car that has
the potential to intersect your course probably will, and act accordingly
(in other words "ride paranoid")

It seems that a pilot has alot of control over "most" of the risks of dying
in his plane.... fuel exhaustion, flying into IMC, landing in crosswinds
beyond pilot/plane capability... etc., but For awhile I've thought these
were engine failure on takeoff were the most unavoidable accidents, since
it's basically instant failure and can happen at any time in an engines
life. I don't like feeling that there is a risk of dying that careful
planning and/or technique cannot reduce.

As I've done more research (yes I'm sure alot of this will be covered in
PPL training.. but..) I've learned and inferred some things. Obviously,
during takeoff is the time when the engine is under the most stress, that's
why, I assume, a good run-up is done before takeoff, so hopefully if
something is "about to fail" it will fail then and not on climbout.

Your suggestion of best angle of climb, I believe mirrors my recent mental
processes about the takeoff and engine failure risks. I assume that best
"angle" of climb will give the aircraft the best compromise between rate of
climb and engine output/stress?

In thinking about engine choices for my (hopefully) upcoming Sonex project,
this has lead me to lean more toward the (much) more expensive Jabiru 330,
rather then the AeroVee or Jab 220. With more power available, the plane
will climb to above my "no return" altitude quicker, and/or at a lower %
power setting. I have communicated with one Sonex pilot who totaled his
airplane after a prob hub failure (using a GreatPlanes VW setup, a faulty
hub attachment that has since been re-designed) and an attempted turnback
(roled the plane after a wingtip strike... fortunately lived to tell about
it). Very scary stuff....

I was also taught in my first GA plane ride (sr-22) by a CFI to use every
foot of available runway. We pulled onto a 5300 ft runway off the taxiway
that was about 100ft or so from the beginning of the runway and he still
turned, and looped around to use all of that 100 feet. He reasoned to me
that in the event of an issue at takeoff that 100 feet of runway could be
the difference between life and death, even though the sr-22 only needed
less than 1000 feet to takeoff....

I know this is very basic stuff to this group, but in my very short time of
"hanging around" 2 different small airports I have seen many folks jump in
there plane without doing "any" inspection, takeoff with no runup, etc. I
wonder how many of these statistics are a result of these breakdowns of
procedure....?