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It only takes one...



 
 
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  #1  
Old May 2nd 07, 02:55 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
Kyle Boatright
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 578
Default It only takes one...

This evening, one careless, clueless, oblivious, inattentive (choose one)
pilot made a shambles of the pattern at my home field for 10 minutes.

It was 20 minutes before dusk and the flock was returning home - there were
aircraft in the pattern and at least 3 inbound. A guy (in a Cessna)
announced a midfield crossover entry into the pattern for a touch and go,
but indicated that he'd have to extend his downwind because he was 500'
above pattern altitude. Fair enough, I thought - the guy is gonna fly a
normal downwind + 1/2 mile.

Long story short, the guy flew a normal downwind plus 2.5 miles, and his
downwind was literally a mile wide to boot...

So the airplane behind him (another Cessna) had to fly the same B-52
pattern, the Grumman behind *him* had to fly a B-47 pattern, and I followed
with a B-29 pattern. Two inbound aircraft recognized that the traffic
pattern was a mess and opted to do loiter outside the pattern to let things
correct themselves.

Then the original Cessna flying doofus flew an abbreviated upwind and
crosswind after his touch and go and cut off the folks who had loitered
waiting for everything to sort itself out. Aargh! I don't think I'll ever
understand this type of pilot...

The question in my mind was... Did the Cessna flying doofus even realize
that A) he was flying a dumb and dangerous pattern, being outside of gliding
range from the field, or that B) he caused a bad chain reaction in the
pattern.??

As I said: It only takes one.


  #2  
Old May 2nd 07, 03:13 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
John T
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Posts: 194
Default It only takes one...

"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message


Long story short, the guy flew a normal downwind plus 2.5 miles, and
his downwind was literally a mile wide to boot...
...
The question in my mind was... Did the Cessna flying doofus even
realize that A) he was flying a dumb and dangerous pattern, being
outside of gliding range from the field, or that B) he caused a bad
chain reaction in the pattern.??


What kind of Cessna? 150? 182? 206? Caravan? My point is the higher
performance the plane, the larger the pattern. I wasn't there, so I'll take
your word the pattern was wider than it needed to be. Still, I consider
"gliding range in the pattern" a goal, not a rule with a "dumb" label
applied to violators.

Even if he was wide and long, why did you guys let it affect your pattern?
You could've entered slow flight and/or used shallow S-turns, for instance,
to eat time.

My real point is "flying doofi" will always show themselves at the pattern
(and elsewhere). The only thing we control is our reaction to them.

--
John T
http://sage1solutions.com/blogs/TknoFlyer
Reduce spam. Use Sender Policy Framework: http://openspf.org
____________________


  #3  
Old May 2nd 07, 03:36 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
Kyle Boatright
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 578
Default It only takes one...


"John T" wrote in message
m...
"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message


Long story short, the guy flew a normal downwind plus 2.5 miles, and
his downwind was literally a mile wide to boot...
...
The question in my mind was... Did the Cessna flying doofus even
realize that A) he was flying a dumb and dangerous pattern, being
outside of gliding range from the field, or that B) he caused a bad
chain reaction in the pattern.??


What kind of Cessna? 150? 182? 206? Caravan? My point is the higher
performance the plane, the larger the pattern. I wasn't there, so I'll
take your word the pattern was wider than it needed to be. Still, I
consider "gliding range in the pattern" a goal, not a rule with a "dumb"
label applied to violators.


The guy was flying a 172, and turning 500 extra feet of altitude into a 3x
sized pattern put him and everyone behind him at increased risk.


Even if he was wide and long, why did you guys let it affect your pattern?
You could've entered slow flight and/or used shallow S-turns, for
instance, to eat time.


You saw the part where each successive airplane flew a smaller pattern?
There is only so much you can do when the origial spacing is 3/4 mile (?) or
thereabouts. Airplane one (a Cessna) flew the downwind at 75 knots,
airplane two (another Cessna) could comfortably slow to 65, airplane three
( a Grumman) probably needed 70 or 75 knots to be happy, and I was OK at 65
knots.


My real point is "flying doofi" will always show themselves at the pattern
(and elsewhere). The only thing we control is our reaction to them.


You're right, but the problem with flying doofi is that we (you, I, and
everyone else) *expect* other pilots to act in a "normal" manner. If a guy
radios that he's gonna extend his downwind, we understand. But nobody
expects a downwind extended by 2 miles. I'm sure everyone in tonight's
pattern expected the guy to turn base ANY SECOND once he was a half mile
beyond the normal pattern, and as the downwind extended and extended, I'd
bet everyone behind the first guy was wondering.... What the heck is that
guy doing???


--
John T
http://sage1solutions.com/blogs/TknoFlyer
Reduce spam. Use Sender Policy Framework: http://openspf.org
____________________



  #4  
Old May 2nd 07, 03:51 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
TheSmokingGnu
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 166
Default It only takes one...

Kyle Boatright wrote:
This evening, one careless, clueless, oblivious, inattentive (choose one)
pilot made a shambles of the pattern at my home field for 10 minutes.


We shall term this the "McNicoll effect", for while being entirely
within the bounds of the law, was being a complete ass and mucking it up
for the rest of us.

Which, of course, means that he wasn't a danger at all and how dare you
question his piloting ability based on his obviously legal performance
(sub-quote, you ugly tit).

Sorry, can't resist.

---

It sounds as though everyone else had the forethought to do the right
thing, however I am concerned about the progression of the patterns.
Shouldn't it be just about Global Hawk-sized by now, if indeed it kept
on the same decay curve?

TheSmokingGnu
  #5  
Old May 2nd 07, 04:12 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
Mortimer Schnerd, RN[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 597
Default It only takes one...

Kyle Boatright wrote:
The question in my mind was... Did the Cessna flying doofus even realize
that A) he was flying a dumb and dangerous pattern, being outside of gliding
range from the field, or that B) he caused a bad chain reaction in the
pattern.??



I'm not arguing with the general point of your posting but I will take a poke at
your assertion about being outside of gliding range of the field. With that
sort of idea, how does one justify ever leaving the pattern to go somewhere?
Every cross country is outside gliding distance of the field.

Aside from that: A) possibly; and B) probably not.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com


  #6  
Old May 2nd 07, 04:21 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 158
Default It only takes one...

On May 1, 7:13 pm, "John T" wrote:

My real point is "flying doofi" will always show themselves at the pattern
(and elsewhere). The only thing we control is our reaction to them.

--
John Thttp://sage1solutions.com/blogs/TknoFlyer
Reduce spam. Use Sender Policy Framework:http://openspf.org
____________________


Ah, what the heck. He may have been new, and not really realized the
distances and effects he was having. Or, he just did what he was
taught.

I'm glad to say I've never screwed up in a pattern. (snicker. I
screwed it up so bad I turned 180, changed my callsign and came back
later.) (No, actually, I didn't change my callsign. But I think
they're still looking for me...)

I guess the more important thing isn't what HE did, because HE will
always be out there. The important thing is how you/we respond to
the unexpected.

  #7  
Old May 2nd 07, 04:31 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
Kyle Boatright
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 578
Default It only takes one...


"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com wrote in message
...
Kyle Boatright wrote:
The question in my mind was... Did the Cessna flying doofus even realize
that A) he was flying a dumb and dangerous pattern, being outside of
gliding
range from the field, or that B) he caused a bad chain reaction in the
pattern.??



I'm not arguing with the general point of your posting but I will take a
poke at your assertion about being outside of gliding range of the field.
With that sort of idea, how does one justify ever leaving the pattern to
go somewhere? Every cross country is outside gliding distance of the
field.


Altitude, baybee... And time. From pattern altitude, my airplane has a
minute's worth of glide time or maybe a mile and a half of "range" in a
power off glide. Assuming (incorrectly) that anything within 1.5 miles of
the airplane is within range, I have approximately 6 or 7 square miles of
potential landing sites from pattern altitude. Realistically, the figure is
probably 1/2 that.

From 3, 4, or 5,000 AGL the options go up exponentially. At 5,000', I have
about 7 minutes to restart the engine (assuming a switchology, tankology, or
similar problem). Also, my airplane can glide about 9 miles. Again,
assuming I can glide to anywhere within 9 miles, I have about 250 square
miles of potential landing sites, which greatly increases my chances of a
safe landing.

In my local area, there are enough public and private fields that one is in
range 80% or more of the time if I'm above 5,000' AGL.

That makes me feel a little better about leaving the pattern. As the old
farts say, the question isn't "if?", but "when?" the engine will fail. I
try and stack the odds in my favor if the answer to the question is "now"...


Aside from that: A) possibly; and B) probably not.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com



  #8  
Old May 2nd 07, 05:30 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
BT
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 995
Default It only takes one...

Ahh... cessna on the extended downwind.. if you are planning to log cross
country on this pattern, do you mind if I make a tight pattern and get on
the ground... great... thanks..

BT

"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
. ..
This evening, one careless, clueless, oblivious, inattentive (choose one)
pilot made a shambles of the pattern at my home field for 10 minutes.

It was 20 minutes before dusk and the flock was returning home - there
were aircraft in the pattern and at least 3 inbound. A guy (in a Cessna)
announced a midfield crossover entry into the pattern for a touch and go,
but indicated that he'd have to extend his downwind because he was 500'
above pattern altitude. Fair enough, I thought - the guy is gonna fly a
normal downwind + 1/2 mile.

Long story short, the guy flew a normal downwind plus 2.5 miles, and his
downwind was literally a mile wide to boot...

So the airplane behind him (another Cessna) had to fly the same B-52
pattern, the Grumman behind *him* had to fly a B-47 pattern, and I
followed with a B-29 pattern. Two inbound aircraft recognized that the
traffic pattern was a mess and opted to do loiter outside the pattern to
let things correct themselves.

Then the original Cessna flying doofus flew an abbreviated upwind and
crosswind after his touch and go and cut off the folks who had loitered
waiting for everything to sort itself out. Aargh! I don't think I'll
ever understand this type of pilot...

The question in my mind was... Did the Cessna flying doofus even realize
that A) he was flying a dumb and dangerous pattern, being outside of
gliding range from the field, or that B) he caused a bad chain reaction in
the pattern.??

As I said: It only takes one.



  #9  
Old May 2nd 07, 05:57 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
tjd
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 41
Default It only takes one...

On May 1, 9:55 pm, "Kyle Boatright" wrote:
A guy (in a Cessna)
announced a midfield crossover entry into the pattern for a touch and go,
but indicated that he'd have to extend his downwind because he was 500'
above pattern altitude. Fair enough, I thought - the guy is gonna fly a
normal downwind + 1/2 mile.


I see no-one has mentioned this part yet - descending into the traffic
pattern is dangerous in and of itself and AC90-66A specifically
recommends against it. The guy was probably cooking along at 110,
hadn't done his checklists, etc. so no wonder it took him so long to
turn base...

  #10  
Old May 2nd 07, 06:01 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
Dallas
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 541
Default It only takes one...

On Tue, 1 May 2007 21:55:56 -0400, Kyle Boatright wrote:

I don't think I'll ever understand this type of pilot...


They're at every airport. We have Doctor that shows up once or so a week
to fire up his Citabria and fly massive and unpredictable oval patterns for
an hour. It's really quite educational for those learning to fly the
pattern.

He's been given the nickname "Doctor Death" by those who have survived his
attempts to kill them.

--
Dallas
 




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