Does a Mooney outclimb its own glide?

[N201MKTurbo]

One thing to consider is returning from crosswind and downwind.

 

Unless you always depart straight out until you get to 500 feet or so, there will be a different situation.

 

If you are on crosswind do you do a 270 back to the runway or the 90?

 

If on downwind do you do a 270 back to the end or dive for the runway and have none left to land on?

[Hank]

Crosswind back to the runway is about 135º, depending upon how far you went beyond the end of the runway and how long into the leg you turn back. I rarely turn crosswind much before 500 agl.

 

From downwind with an engine failure, just fly your normal procedures but don't go quite so far out, since your descent will be starting sooner than "abeam your intended touchdown point." On my first Flight Review in the Mooney, the instructor pulled the throttle on downwind and I just settled into my normal 90 mph speed, dropped gear abeam the numbers and turned base a little early. Just a normal landing with a slightly shorter downwind leg.

 

Engine failure on the straight-out leg is what kills people when they try to do a 180 then find the runway. It's scary being slow that close to the ground, because it's unfamiliar; it's scary not having engine power; steep banks are scary because it's unfamiliar. So they use normal bank angles, pull up to avoid the ground and stall. Nose down immediately, 45º bank into the wind, set best glide speed will work if you are high enough and there are no obstacles. In the video that AOPA has from a fellow Mooney pilot, he almost hit trees on the ridgeline. Listen to his breathing during that short flight!

[OldGlassMan]

Two things.  First, most Mooney guys I know rarely climb at Vx or Vy.  Most go for a higher speed with 90-110 knots being the most common depending on M20 model.  This for better climb visibility and a more comfortable angle for passengers.  Doing this pretty much precludes a turn back to the runway if anything goes bang.

 

In my old '68 my own standard is to never do a straight out departure, and to go for an early crosswind turn (400 feet or end of the runway, whichever is later).  That puts me in a better position, either with the first 90 completed or downwind, if anything should happen in the first few minutes when forces have just come on the engine and airframe.

 

I like to do this even if the desired course is right in line with the departure runway becasue one turn in the pattern gives me a GPS course intercept of the planned leg at 1000' AGL right over the runway with a very natural place to start a leg time.  KBDN does'nt have a tower, so I can even do this IFR prior to calling ATC.  In Olympia, the tower used to accomodate the request most of the time, and I rarely had to do anything different.

[aviatoreb]

Landing back at the runway you departed is harder than landing in the big open field consisting of your airport.  Some airports I depart are all trees and hills outside the airport grounds, without much good options to land off field in an emergency - except for some lakes at some of them, and lakes are better than a spin.  Coming back to just the airport grounds might require less than 180 degrees depending on how large the airport, how high your altitude and so forth.  Making your "off field" soft field landing but inside the fence is better than insisting on the runway without enough energy to make it, or outside the fence if its trees and rocks.  Just saying there might be an in-between solution.

 

Know all the options in great detail at your home airport above all, since I bet half or so of your take-offs are from that home field.

 

The rocket and the missile advertise a 16:1 glide ratio due to the full feathering prop which is roughly 3 miles for every 1000 altitude.  They advert the possibility of returning to your departure airport 60 miles out:

http://www.rocketengineering.com/content/rocket-safety