"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:UwIMb.37328$na.29723@attbi_s04...

But having everyone on the same runway makes the pattern work the
smoothest -- which, ultimately, helps keep us all safe.

Hi Jay,

I appreciate your POV, but actually I disagree. My target
airspeed on final is 10 knots faster than well-flown brand
P or C and I usually want to fly a tighter pattern, too. So
it's actually smoothest for me to "do my own thing". It's
actually easier to space properly with orthogonal separation.
There oughta be a little web-based simulator program to show
this -- can one add two airplanes to Tim's VOR simulator?

Safer, I think that very much depends upon the circumstances.
I think it's largely a feeling of familiarity "everybody going
in the same rectangle" which makes people feel safer, but I'm
not sure it really is. I think people relax too much with
radio calls and don't always really keep a proper look-out.
I've certainly broken out or broken off or done a sudden
dive maneuver when someone who just called "entering downwind"
showed up on base or the like. Just my opinion.

OTOH I don't want to P/O people just for grins, so if there's
a tendency to *perceive* it as safer, that's relevant.

Cheers,
Sydney