The Impossible Turn

In a movie that our family enjoys, the main character, a mall cop, takes exception to being called a security "guard" as opposed to the title security "officer". The person that he's talking to couldn't care less, however, he continues. The dialogue goes roughly like this:
PB: "There's a big controversy brewing in the industry."
Other: "Oh, I had no idea"
PB: "Oh yeah... it's out there."

Well, there's been a controversy brewing in the aviation industry... it's out there! At issue is what pilots should be taught to do in the scenario where he or she has an aircraft that has ceased to generate power shortly after takeoff. Wait... wait... Did someone just yawn!?! I suggest that this should be intriguing stuff since the majority of us have traveled by air. Oh yeah... and because you all know and care for me (and, perhaps, other pilots) and want the best of me, oui?

So, the aviation community has mainly, in the past, instructed pilots whose engine(s) die(s) just after takeoff (below 1000 feet above ground level) to pick a landing site relatively straight ahead and fight the strong urge to go back to the airport- that would be an "impossible turn"- you are too low and too slow and such maneuvers would result in an aerodynamic stall. Long story short- it'd be a bad deal.

However, recently, people have been questioning if the "Impossible Turn" is really impossible. Could it be possible that a pilot could consider a turn back to the airport at a lower altitude in this scenario? So, If you are blessed with a decent internet connection, you can view the following video to see what the outcome is.




Interesting, riveting stuff, yes? I think so. Not just because I am a pilot and I make it my business to keep current on these things, but because this is a case where someone is questioning the status quo. Long held beliefs are being scrutinized and put to the test. What was once deemed "impossible" is now "possible".

When Mary, Jesus' mother, was confronted with the news that she'd be Jesus' mother without ever knowing a man, the angel told her this, "With God nothing shall be impossible".

I had a great vacation with my family and some friends on a remote beach in Gabon a couple of years ago. I read a great book by Andrew Murray called "Absolute Surrender" while I lounged sea-side. Here's what he had to say about impossibilities;

"Your life is every day to be a proof
that God works impossibilities;
your life is to be a series of
impossibilities made possible and actual
by God's almighty power."

Soon after, I started to pray that my life would be evidence of an almighty God who loves to do the impossible. Since that time, I can easily say, it has been the most challenging chapter of my life. I think if you had come to me that day with a list of all the events that would transpire in the coming two years, I would have said that it would be impossible for my family to survive or for us to remain living cross-culturally in Africa. However, here we are. I can only hope that these things are part of God answering our prayer that our lives are evidence of a God that loves to do the impossible.

Can an Impossible Turn become possible? It would seem that it is possible. Now, interestingly enough, pilots are being trained to react in an opposite manner than they previously were doing in an emergency situation. What are they calling this new maneuver? "The Impossible Turn" !