On Feb 13, 7:33*am, Mxsmanic wrote:
terry writes:
Can you tell that an area in front of you is truly flat smooth and
safe from 500 feet altitude?

You can get a pretty good idea, and if it's reasonably close to flat and
smooth, it's still a better choice than trying to turn around.

If you can, can you also explain why
real pilots are taught to do precautionary search and landing passes
at 100 feet, if they need to make an emergency landing but still have
the power/time to do so?

If they don't have the power to turn around, they definitely don't have the
power to make any precautionary passes at 100 feet.

My point was that we do passes at 100 feet if we can because at
higher altitudes you cannot be sure the surface is suitable or safe.
To suggest
that a pilot might be making the decision to turn back just because he
is worried about damaging his airplane is nonsense.
A pilot knows with almost certainly that the runway is suitable and
safe to land on, if he can make it thus the temptation to turn back is
strong.
The focus should not be on whether you turn or not , it should be on
maintaining appropriate airspeed at all times until touchdown