Turnback Failure

A lot of ink and pixels have been spilled over the years about turning back to the departure runway if a singles engine quits right after takeoff. The maneuver is usually referred to as a turnback, and was the topic of our January 2006 article, Turnbacks Reconsidered.

Joseph E. (Jeb) Burnside

Thursday, August 10, 2017 at 12:00 AM ET

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The Equator Aircraft team includes the company’s chief designer and CEO, Tomas Brødreskift along with pilot Rein Inge Hoff and team leader Øystein Solheim-Aune. Equator Aircraft

Key Takeaways:

A simulator study on engine failures shortly after takeoff demonstrated that attempting a "turnback" to the departure runway has a significantly lower success rate compared to landing straight ahead.
A fatal accident investigation highlighted the dangers of turnbacks, where a pilot's attempt to return to the runway resulted in a stall and crash, with no evidence of mechanical failure found.
The NTSB determined the accident's probable cause was the pilot's decision to initiate a turnback and failure to maintain airspeed, leading to an aerodynamic stall and spin.
The article concludes that maintaining control and executing a straight-ahead landing is generally the most survivable option in an engine-out emergency shortly after takeoff.

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A lot of ink and pixels have been spilled over the years about turning back to the departure runway if a single’s engine quits right after takeoff. The maneuver is usually referred to as a turnback, and was the topic of our January 2006 article, “Turnbacks Reconsidered”.

In it, Rich Stowell related the results of a simulator-based study of 20 pilots flying scenarios calling for engine failure shortly after takeoff. Successfully handing the emergency meant, among other parameters, the rate of descent at touchdown could not exceed 500 fpm, and bank angle had to be within five degrees of wings-level below 100 feet agl.