On Thursday, April 18, 2019 at 11:54:32 AM UTC-7, Tango Eight wrote:
On Thursday, April 18, 2019 at 2:43:00 PM UTC-4, wrote:
‘No 360s please. That has disaster written all over it.’ T8

Disagree once the pilot is proficient and not a student. I consider a 360 circling pattern to an off field landing preferable, especially when field elevation is unsure.
S K makes a mistake, to ‘Preach’ to him not to use a proven technique to improve knowledge of the field condition because some can’t make a coordinated turn below 1000’ agl a bit of snake handling.

R

Hi Henry:

There's nothing wrong with a 360 degree pattern (that is, one that completely encloses the landing area). The 360 I am taking issue with is the tight 360 that happens on final because the pilot thinks he's hopelessly high. As previously noted, better solutions exist.

best,
Evan

Tight 360s are much safer than shallow 360s. Much harder to stall/spin. I just finished a winch launching class, and was taught that in the event of a rope break you can find yourself at mid field at 300' -400' and your best option is a tight 360 turn or two- to the downwind side, tangent to the runway, then land from mid field once below 300'. (this is for a shorter 2700' runway). It seemed very unintuitive at first, but it worked just fine.