I strongly agree with this statement. We are all preached to about this accident scenario from our initial training onward and conclude that only the "bad pilots" would fall into the trap. Then, over time, we may begin to have those who have preached it to us do the same thing (two in my case).
Having a faulty prop governor roll RPM's back on me on takeoff one time gave me a clue to what others have felt. I wanted to turn around...badly! There was not a green, mowed field on front of me to "turn 45 degrees left or right" and save the day. There were zero safe options. Straight ahead was guaranteed personal injury or worse. I was able to limp it around.
I realized that one has to COMMIT to crashing when faced with this first hand and that's a decision that counters basic survival instinct. Perhaps this instinct is stronger than airman decision making in a short (a few seconds) time span to which perhaps a majority(?) of us would act incorrectly. I no longer "think less" of a pilot victim of this kind of accident.
Additionally, I don't think this scenario simulated at altitude is an adequate tool to prep for the event. An interesting demonstration? Certainly. In real life, down low, the ground rush of stalled or nearly stalled airplane is too big of a influencing variable to properly simulate in a real-life situation in my opinion, not to mention the effects of wind, ect. I like to point out the VSI indicating about 900 fpm down to my passengers after a imminent stall as they don't feel like they are descending near that much from the safety of 3000'.
I've always believed that a simulator for this would be an invaluable tool. Crashing RC models in my youth has worked for me so far!
Let us all learn.
vwglenn wrote:Two other reinforcements...
2) The impossible turn is bad juju! It must be a horrible instinct to overcome and way to many pilots far better than me seem to have tried and failed. Take some time to set up a safe test of the turn. It'll help reinforce why it's a bad idea, set a personal limit, and (hopefully) help you fight the urge to turn back to the runway.