Volunteers Pull Together To Recondition A Popular Backcountry Airfield - AVweb

Seagull, this is a heavily disputed opinion. Many feel the flat climb is safer, as:

  1. your visibility for avoiding traffic than when nose high at Vy
  2. a higher speed gives you a significantly longer time to “get the nose down” before you enter a stall/spin. The margins are much closer than when you are climbing at Vy. Doesn’t matter if you are 100’ higher if you enter that stall/spin
  3. the higher speed climbs are much easier on your engine’s long term health, as it keeps the CHT increase gradient shallower, and thus reduces engine wear. Healthier engines are much less likely to fail in the first place!
    You might want to look at Pelican’s Perch #4: Engine Failure!, here on AvWeb. The article deals with some of these issues (though a little bit “twin centric”)