Brian wrote in news:a4038f02-2e60-474d-81bc-
:


One way to practice this would be to establish a "runway altitude"
at,
say, 1000ft AGL, get the airplane into takeoff configuration on
heading
at that altitude over a road or something, simulate a failure at a
specified altitude--say, 1,500 feet--and see what altitude you're at
when you get back to your reciprocal heading. If it's above your
starting altitude, you made it.


Actually this is very similar to how I do have pilots simulate this.
However it is often not quite realistic for a couple of reasons.

1. The illusion of speed. When done for real the airplane will seem to
be fly much faster than when done close to the ground, especially if
there is much wind. I am thoroughly convinced the most stall spin
accidents happen for two reasons. A. is the illusion of speed when the
pilot thinks the are going faster than the are. B. Is the pilot isn't
thinking they are in a situation where a stall is possible, and thus
does not recognize it as a stall when it occurs. (Very similar to A)

Absolutely. Add to this the very real ( as opposed to illusory) fact
that the climb gradient is much poorer and that the wind gradient (
assuming you're climbing) is also nibbling at both airspeed and climp
performance and...

Bertie