RV safety, takeoff engine failure
Touch down at best glide or min sink you get you hurt. The old adage, fly the plane first comes to mind. If you don't maintain flying speed and get to slow (stall or high sink) you've blown your survivability in any airplane.
With that said, the stall speed of RV's is incredibly slow, around 50 mph, which is the same as a C-150 or C-152, arguably one of the most docile trainers around.
A controlled crash at 50 mph is very survivable regardless of power off glide sink rate, but you have to lower the nose and FLY the plane to a touch down under control. The reason I first choose RV's in the mid late 80's was the safety aspect of the low stall speed and aluminum structure which yields and absorbs energy in an accident.
The pilot is key to the equation. If you stall or "mush" high above the ground and don't correct or don't have the altitude to affect a recovery, it does not matter what you are flying. Practice power off landings in the pattern is good advice. Even more telling is go from full power Vx or Vy climb and chop the power and go right to a nose low best glide attitude. It's a large pitch change. This simulates what it is like to loose power in the initial climb low to the ground. Basically it is a power on stall recovery. Key is to loose min altitude and maintain your energy (airspeed).
Consider power loss on take off with the nose way up. If you don't immediately lower the nose below the horizon about as much as it was above the horizon before the loss of power you may get into this stall/mush condition like the posters friend experience. Mentally you have to be ready to point the nose at the ground and land immediately, regardless of where that may be.
The topic of "180 degree turn returns" (really a 270 degree turn) and landing on the runway you just departed is a subject of much debate. My rule is no rule. It depends on the runway length, winds and surrounding off field landing options. I am not saying a return to the runway is bad or impossible, but have you practiced that? Chance's are you will be in a high bank angle low to the ground, with a higher chance of stalling. Those pilots who claim to practice the 180-return, say they can pull the power at say 400 feet can do it. Than they describe how they whip their plane immediately into a 90 degree bank, landing in the opposite direction on the same 6,000 foot calm wind runway they just departed. Good for them. The bad news is a real engine failure is always surprise. Runways and winds vary. Chances are for 1 to 3 seconds you'll be just sitting there, with your mouth open, (aircraft) nose in the air and airspeed bleeding off.
All I can say is an engine failure right after takeoff is a serious and horrible scenario. I hope you or I never have to prove our airmanship skill surviving this. When in doubt (as most are taught), fly the plane basiclly straight ahead or say 20-30 degrees either side and touch down under control wings level with full flaps at min speed. It does not take super pilot skills and currency. Of course if you are at 1000 feet agl and in the x-wind turn, sure you have more options; Again, have you practiced it lately. I know I have not.
At MIN before every take off mentally tell yourself or out loud say "In case of an engine failure I'm going to do XYZ". At least you will mentally have rehearsed it. Every commercial airline crew must review the engine failure reject or go scenario's before takeoff. It's a good idea even for GA pilots. It may not be as involved with a single engine plane, but know what you are going to do and do it.
My primary flight instructor who was a little sadistic gave me daily simulated engine failures from all flight conditions, sometimes several in one session. It was routine and felt cheated when I did not get a simulated engine failure. I am kidding, he was not sadistic, and later as a CFI, I did the same thing because sim. eng. fail from all flight conditions is FAR requirement for student pilots pre-solo training. Must admit I am rusty and need to practice. At least I know I am rusty.