In article ,
scurry wrote:
Paul M. Cordell wrote:

How Low to Spin??

When I flew my minature CA state record, at one point I had
picked a field and was on downwind for landing. The
stupid road on the field was 2000 ft long, but there
were trees 50-100ft+ on both ends, and a tree right in the
middle of the packed dirt road. I remember grumbling
to myself that this could very possibly suck.

I caught some lift on the downwind at about 500 ft AGL,
right over the field. I circled fast and with shallow bank
right over the field, in a wide arc. At every moment, I said
I wouldn't get slow and tight close to the ground, and if
I wasn't going up, I would go back to the downwind.

1 knot became 2, and soon I was at 1500AGL. I looked around a bit
more, and found that I had set up for a tailwind landing (about
5 knots). I hadn't seen any flags or such on the way in, and
the wind was 120 deg from what I expected.

I tightened up and took a breath, and eventually held the same thermal
up 10,000 ft, 4-6 knots.

So mediocre landing field vs. 500ft shallow circle at
higher speed? I'm gonna say that if I'm always in a position to make
a safe landing, I'm ok. The real question is if someone
flys slow and steep close to the ground. I do it high all the
time, but never below 1000 feet AGL...
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Mark Boyd
Avenal, California, USA