Lil'John,

I have read and watched video of the return to the airport technique. The solution seems to be to know the minimum altitude needed, fall off the center line extended downwind, and make a minimum banked turn back. Correct me where wrong.Most of my actual dead sticks were while spraying. Only enough altitude for what was in the very near hemisphere to my front. However, I have found the same energy management turn we use in back and forth to work well during forced landings. Four things are critical in this energy management turn:
If at cruise speed, pitch up wings level to exchange some of that airspeed for altitude. At a slower speed, we can turn at a much faster rate.
Turn at whatever bank is necessary to line up on the landing zone.
Allow the nose to go down significantly. If in doubt, release all back pressure. The airplane can't stall if the back pressure is released.
Roll the wings level, mostly with rudder, prior to pulling back again to end the dive.

This may not help with your turn back situation, but I think some of the principles may apply:
Airspeed is altitude.
Altitude is airspeed.
The slower we go,the faster we turn.
Only the pilot can stall the airplane, by pulling back.
Only the pilot can cause load factor by pulling back.
Graveyard spiral is caused by the pilot pulling back in a descending turn.

Keep up the good work.

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