AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2018 - 80

P&E

TECHNIQUE

IN NO-WIND CONDITIONS, drifting 500 feet (the airplane's turn radius) will allow a pilot to turn back to the runway in the event of an engine

failure, without putting the aircraft in the path of other traffic. With a crosswind, the pilot should use a smaller offset to be able to make the
critical turn into the wind. After reaching that initial point, an upwind turn increases the angle of climb and-once on the upwind side of the
runway-gives any return a tailwind if the engine fails farther out.

80 | AOPA PILOT April 2018

maintain the best angle of climb longer.
But the thought of intentionally displacing
an aircraft downwind on departure nearly
caused one guy an aircraft-spacing aneurism. I had a hard time with that objection
because the worst-case scenario still provided more aircraft separation between
arrivals and departures than is guaranteed
by the current cruising altitudes for direction of flight. But the aircraft separation
issue was a minor controversy compared
to the sin-eating that followed.
According to a small minority, it is blasphemous to give pilots more options during
the first minute of flight. The decision to
proceed straight ahead after an engine failure on takeoff is written on stone tablets.
Pardon me for not shaking in my boots
because this procedure differs a bit from
what we might expect to see on any given
day at the airfield. An initial climbout that
is only slightly downwind and well below
pattern altitude will not cause a rip in the
space-time continuum. And what normal

I ran mathematical
models that pitted
the traditional
departure and climb
against other
profiles. It seems the
traditional profile and
traffic pattern are less
than optimal.
person, when faced with drowning, throws
away a life preserver? Translation for my
surfer pilot friends: Normal traffic patterns
have bad karma, dude!
AOPA
JOHN CARROLL is a former commuter air-

line captain, a banner/glider tow and ferry
pilot, and had a short career as an airshow
performer.

CHARLES FLOYD

also increases your climb angle. It is a wonderful way to add safety treats to a better
planned cookie jar.
How do I know this works? I ran mathematical models that pitted the traditional
centerline departure, with its normal
two-segment climb, against profiles with
longer best-angle climbs and tracks that
initially took the aircraft away from the
runway in both directions, upwind and
downwind. I used different conditions
of wind, without considering the takeoff roll, so that only the effects of flight
were fairly compared. In each and every
case, the normal departure was found to
be lacking. It seems the traditional profile
and traffic pattern are less than optimal.
And how did my colleagues react to this
revelation? The word genius was bandied
about. One pilot and theoretician wondered
what took me so long. Others saw the light
after some arm twisting, and a couple more
called me crazy. It wasn't hard for experienced pilots to accept that it is better to

AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2018

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