It had started as a run out to the Pilot's Lounge at the virtual airport to check on plans for our annual end-of-the-year bacchanal and ended up with me wandering into a chance to learn from my betters. Sandy, our airline pilot, lost a friend of hers in a post-takeoff crash a few years back. On this day, she brought in the accident report because she wanted to show it to Old Hack, our resident curmudgeon and occasional purveyor of aeronautical common sense.According to the NTSB, Sandy's friend had suffered an engine failure at what witnesses estimated to be about 300-400 feet over the departure end of the runway. Despite the relatively flat ground straight ahead, the pilot chose to make a turn of about 135 degrees toward another runway that had its approach end adjacent to the departure end of the takeoff runway. The cold truth of the matter was that Sandy's friend, a pilot with about 3000 hours, stalled the airplane during the turn. The airplane impacted well nose-down. Sandy's friend died in the accident. His passengers, though badly injured, survived.Sandy had brought the report, along with a couple of academic pieces on whether to turn back for the airport following an engine failure after takeoff, as she wanted to confront Old Hack on the issue. Hack had recently made the statement that a pilot who knew the airplane could successfully turn back after takeoff from an engine failure at 350 feet AGL and make a landing on the departure runway. Sandy thought Hack was all wet and she was ready for a fight on the subject. I stood well clear as Sandy opened up on Hack, figuring that staying out of the crossfire was the wise thing to do.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/features/the-pilots-lounge-121-the-big-silence-after-takeoff