Posted for "Tom Gourley" <tom.gourley@verizon.net>:

 Good suggestion.  I first tried this several years ago in a Grumman AA-1A. I
lined up on a highway, went to takeoff climb configuration and airspeed, and
at 3000' I pulled the throttle.  At that point I pushed the nose over to
maintain best glide and made a teardrop turn to line up on the highway in the
opposite direction.  I tried this a few times using various bank angles in the
turns and, as I recall, I couldn't complete the manuever without losing nearly
1000'.  (Granted, the AA-1A has a poor glide angle and I'm sure other
aircraft, and pilots, could do better.)  I decided at that point that if I
ever lost power on takeoff I would not attempt to return to the runway unless
I was at least at pattern altitude, and not even then if the area around the
end of the runway didn't have some reasonably open fields as backup.
 
 Earlier this year I had the sad experience of watching a Mooney 231 attempt
to make a hard turn (greater than 90 degrees heading change) at low altitude
in an attempt to make a runway after a power loss.  (He had not taken off from
this runway, but turned toward it after having a power loss in flight.) Part
way through a very aggressive turn the nose and right wing dropped noticeably.
 I could see him start to recover, but he didn't have enough altitude.  He
didn't make it.  The really sad part was the hard turn to a runway wasn't
necessary.  There was a few hundred acres of open field in front of him before
he made the turn.  If the engine quits save your butt, not the airplane.
 
 Tom Gourley