On Jul 15, 12:48*pm, "Vaughn Simon"
wrote:
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

We are told, Vaughn, that engine failures sometimes happen when power
is first reduced after take off. I don't know what the statistics are,
but think failures in the downwind/base/final portions of flight are
not very common. My own SEL experience and practice would put me at
serious risk if they were common, I'd make the field only if the
failure happened inbound of the middle marker a lot of times. I need
power to stay on the glide slope. That 'chop the power and make the
field" probably has more to do with learning how to figure out what
you can glide to if you have a power failure sometime. It might be
worth doing something like that when you're near a not-so-busy field,
just to make sure the sight picture you think you know works is valid
and if you still remember how to manage the energy your airplane has
left.

I'm reminding myself I have not done that sort of thing in too long a
time.