Unicom: 06/05

I was dismayed to read yet another rendition of the downwind turn myth in “Learning Experiences” (April 2005). Gripped by the fate of an ice-laden, 1960 Travelair, I almost missed “...I wanted [to] do a 180-degree turn, but the winds were strong and increasing in velocity; I feared a stall. Groundspeed dropped to under 80 knots...”

Thank goodness the headwinds didn’t pick up another 15 knots and cause the unfortunate aircraft to fall from the sky because of insufficient groundspeed. He was lucky to have had the horsepower to avoid the fate of all the other planes that fell out of the sky that day.

Wouldn’t it be appropriate for a safety magazine to comment on the breach of aeronautical...