wrote in message
...
A simple reality check is to simply pull back the
throttle close to idle passing the numbers downwind when you're number
one to land and getting used to the sight picture that'll get you to
the runway.

Where I fly (KLNA) that is too often simply impossible. When you have
multiple planes in the pattern, the pattern tends to get bigger...much bigger.
I often fly at odd hours just so that I can practice things like you suggest,
but it is a skill that may do me little good if I am routinely forced to turn
final more than a mile from the airport.

I was first a glider pilot. One of the first things we learn/teach in
gliders is that you never want to get caught simultaneously low and downwind of
the field. When I started taking airplane lessons, I was amazed to find that
everyone was routinely flying patterns that were beyond gliding range of the
airport. I am not just talking about the turn from base to final, I mean the
much of the downwind leg and the entire base leg!

Vaughn