As far as I am concerned, landing and thermaling are two different things.
Keep them separate. At altitude, thermal any which way you want, as long as
you do it safely. Practice landings over and over again if you feel
something is "different." Each time you enter the pattern, you should set
yourself in "Landing Mode" and everything should feel the same every time
except for minor adjustments for wind or other aircraft. If you're going to
have an accident, statistics say it will happen in the landing pattern: So
keep your landings the same every time.
"John" wrote in message
om...
This past year, I have stuck to a policy of making all thermal turns
to the right only.

The airport I fly out of has left turns in the pattern. My idea is I
am developing the habit of turning slow to the right only. All left
turns are made at higher pattern speeds.

With the condition I am just recreationally flying locally (don't have
to be that efficient and can burn a turn to center each thermal by
going the "wrong way"), I found that thermaling for a while to the
left, then landing made the high speed left turns in the pattern feel
a bit "different". This was especially noticiable after not flying
for awhile. The result was babying the plane thru the turns instead
of "bank and yank".

Does this make sense for low-time pilots, or pilots who take time off
from flying occasionally? Seems like if you have not flown for
awhile, then thermal a few dozen slow left turns, you would naturally
tend to prefer slow left turns in the pattern. That is what you were
just praticing to do, after all.

Is there safety benefits to thermaling only to the right, and landing
only with left turns? Will a pilot develop habits or preference for
slow speed right turns and high speed left turns?

John




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