What is the proper procedure after a bird strike in a single engine plane during takeoff? First, let me set this up and then ask a general question.  I'm just trying to give some context as to why I'm asking.

I'm working on my private pilot license and was practicing with my PC simulator (X-plane) this weekend.  I was flying a Mooney m20j out of John Wayne (KSNA, which has two runways, 16R/1L 16L/1R).  I took off from 16R and at about 300AGL I encountered a bird strike and my engine died (though my windshield was intact).  

I was just about at the end of the runway so I declared an emergency (yeah, I've been talking to myself...) and said I was going to turn the plane around and land on 1R (so, the parallel runway in the opposite direction.)  I was kind of panicking and had no idea what to do, this was just the first thing that sprang to mind.

I started the turn and quickly realized I was sliding sideways towards the ground, so I leveled out the plane a bit and ended up making a short approach on a taxiway, which I managed to land (though that may be down to the simulator being a bit forgiving and not me, really.)  So the plane survived...



So I've got two questions, the first a little specific (though I'll try to generalize it) and the second nice and general so it applies to a wider audience.


Is the process I described a good approach to a bird strike during take off?
In review, I feel I probably would have been better off just landing straight ahead on a road or open field, but I thought I'd ask.
What is the best way to deal with a bird strike or incident on takeoff that fails the engine?
I'm particularly interested in situations where the plane is about at the end of the runway - if it happens right as you take off you can just put it back down, and if you're much higher up you have a lot of options because you can glide for a while.  But right at the runways end, when you have very little altitude and no more runway...  What's the proper procedure?
You will not find a "single rule fits all" but in general, on PPL training, you are taught &lt; 700 feet, land ahead no matter what.

A skilled pilot, with good currency, in an aircraft they know well, in good conditions they have planned for and with enough altitude, might successfully turn around.  Another pilot in the same aircraft with the same conditions might kill themselves.

The consequences of getting a turnaround wrong are worse then getting a straight ahead landing wrong and, by turning around, you might very well put someone else at risk.  You have much better prospects mushing down straight and level into those trees ahead than stalling out of a turn in an attempt to get back to somewhere you may or may not make.

Forget the flight sim heroics.  Nose down aggressively for best glide (you should already know what that looks like!), then start looking, or even better, go for the area you know is good because you pre-planned for an EFATO.

Bottom line, when you do start training (good luck!), do whatever you are trained to do.