BB wrote:
I know it's a dead horse, but I can't help but point out that this is
exactly the sort of accident that would be a lot less frequent with a
500 foot one mile circle finish. 70-80 kts right over the center of the
airport at 51 feet is about the worst place you can be -- too much to
land straight, too little to do a pattern. 70 knots, 501 feet, one mile
out gives you a lot of time to think about what you're going to do
next. 70 knots, 300 feet, one mile out means you're not going to make
the flying finish at 500 feet, so you must roll. That decision is over,
now use the whole mile to figure out how to land.

We've used a 1000 foot two mile circle finish at the last two Minden
regionals, which makes finishing a breeze. No problems, no complaints,
no near misses, no one trying 180s at 100 feet, plenty of time to get
everything put away, check that the water has finished dumping, make a
nice leisurely traffic scan, then sequence for landing.

On the other hand, at another recent regional contest I participated in,
a vocal subgroup insisted upon using a finish gate with a 50 foot floor.
There's nothing more exciting that dodging gliders coming from random
directions at 100+ knots, while trying to make something approximating a
normal pattern from my personal finish floor of 500 feet. That kind of
excitement I can live without...

Marc