180-turnback to airport is bad idea

—First appeared in FSANA Flight Training News, April 22, 2021

Former NASA Space Shuttle Astronaut Charlie Precourt who is also EAA vice chairman, along with Rick Marshall from Inflight Metrics, have been gathering data on the controversial 180-degree turnback to the airport during departure with a powerplant loss. Recently they made a presentation to the General Aviation Joint Steering Committee (GAJSC) Safety Analysis Team (SAT).

"If a pilot loses power during takeoff, especially at a municipal airport, they instantly face two high-risk options. Glide forward and risk landing in the suburbs. Or turn back to the runway and risk not making it. Watch this interesting one-hour presentation on the topic of how a pilot can know what their best option is, regardless of the altitude it happens. You will see a demonstration of the Takeoff Advisor and learn more about the research project that is underway."

Part of the project included studying various GA turnback fatal accidents. The results say it all:

When no turnback is executed, the fatal rate is 7%.
When a turnback is executed, the fatal rate is 27%

The results of their first round of real time survey work has brought them to a definite conclusion that turning back to the airport after a powerplant failure is a very bad decision that has bad outcomes most of the time.

The power-off return to the airport after an engine failure on takeoff has been contentious for years and certainly has resulted in fatalities in real life too often when pilots give up airspeed and control and too low of an altitude. The project underway helps to quantify when it is truly safe to do so. FSANA is sharing this with those who might be willing to help collect additional data for the project.

As seen in an EAA Webinar

If a pilot loses power during takeoff, especially at a municipal airport, they instantly face two high-risk options. Glide forward and risk landing in the suburbs. Or turn back to the runway and risk not making it. Watch this interesting one-hour presentation on the topic of how a pilot can know what their best option is, regardless of the altitude it happens. You will see a demonstration of the Takeoff Advisor and learn more about the research project that is underway.
https://www.eaa.org/videos/6193816644001

The project is seeking additional flight data from pilots across the country to improve its analysis. If you would like to know if your plane could perform a turn back to the runway and would like to share your data with this project, Inflight Metrics will send you a visualization of your turnback and plots of your flight.

Want to help? Visit www.inflightmetrics.com/ to take part in the project.

Note: As noted in the project, FSANA emphasizes that this is not intended to be done at a low altitude, in the airport environment, or to an actual runway. It is only intended for data collection to be done at an appropriate higher altitude for safety.