Dick Karl's Gear Up

[drummingpilot]

I am just starting my instrument training and am a bit puzzled by Dick Karl's December article. Using the approach as a guide, it sounds like Dick was on an outbound leg at 007 degrees west on the localizer. If there is not other traffic at his altitude, could he not just turn towards 052 degrees, cross the localizer, start the timer and begin the procedure turn? On the return route the localizer, Dick could get town to 3900 ft , clearing the 1873 ft obstacle. But, then he would only have a couple of miles to lose 1000 more feet by the time he reached the outer marker, which seems like a difficult task at 140 knots. If the procedure was 3.5 minutes total in time, Dick could loose 2000 ft, putting him close to 3900. Seems like the choice to hold longer on the outbound leg to loose some altitude was the best choice. Please opine!