"vincent p. norris" wrote in message
...
3. Spiraling down from 2 miles over the airport takes a LONG time! I
tried
to maintain a nice, easy 300 - 400 fpm descent, which meant circling the
airport for twenty minutes in order to land!

Consider what that means if your engine quits. You have a heck of
along time to find a nice big field, and it can be miles away!

I would think that, when circling over an airport, one wouldn't bother
looking for a nice big field to land in, especially if it meant landing
miles away.

Pete