What is it with this attitude of never naming and shaming? Seriously – if you get treated badly somewhere, speak up!
I don’t know which airfield this was but the UK has a number that “insist” on the OHJ. In all cases I have seen it is an AFIS or A/G guy, not an ATCO, and one with an over inflated ego. For example Panshanger used to do that. There used to be a flying school instructor, with shall we say an accent betraying a chip on his shoulder, who delighted in “ordering” incomings to fly an OHJ with a RH circuit. That is the worst combination to get right all the way down from 2000ft in one go and no doubt intentionally so. They also had a well known guy hanging around who IIRC got done for GBH for beating up somebody I know… And guess who had the last laugh? GA so often gets what it deserves, and in most cases because you could have a hundred people based at an airfield, none of whom will stick their hand in their pocket for a small contribution when somebody wants to run the place properly, hoping to bottom feed for as long as they can, while a tiny number of “big characters” with inflated egos rise through the ranks, take over and trash the place.
I think we can all think of airfields like that. Eaglescott was another one which told me to f-off, in my early renter days… If someone tells me to f-off I will do so and never come back, and I suspect a lot of people will do the same.
The same inflated egos try to trash pilot forums, and probably a lot of other community sites. And when they are not actually trying to trash the site, they pepper it with drivel. Great if you run an advertising site! In the meantime, a load of good contributors bugger off because they don’t want to read the trash. After a while somebody kicks out the egos, cleans up, and tries to start again.
following line features, is there any fundamental reason why we should fly on one side and not the other?
Sure. The feature on the pilots side is easier to track and keep in view and opposing traffic seperates if anyone flies on the left of a highway or railroad or similar. Plus, you have to define it somehow, although I always thought of it being airmenship rather than a law…
Arguably, blind adherence to a LH circuit has been a contributory factor to quite a few “impossible turn” fatalities.
Either that or being taught no or the wrong technique to manage overshooting.
A quick search through the internet suggests that circuits may have started off as left-hand circuits because rotary engined aircraft preferred to turn that way – which begs the question why emergency turns are now to the right. But I get the strong impression that nobody really knows.
kwif weren’t early engines of the counter clockwise persuasion, similar to piston engines of a British or European design.
If there is no traffic in the pattern (I much prefer the more accurate American expression, circuits correctly should be the province of electrics, although on the radio will resign to use what the natives speak) I prefer the OHJ as it allows you to announce ‘commencing PFL from the overhead, will make way for traffic’, so actually saving you some AvGas and keeping your precision glide approach skills current.
Flyer59 wrote:
Most of us fly too little anyway – how important can it be to fly a shorter approach and to save 1/2 gallon of fuel?
Shorter approaches that allow us to stay high until we are on the slope down to the runway allow us to save the environment and more specifically lower the noise footprint. What good does it do to do a full circuit and make noise all over the place if you can do a direct final?
I think most responsible airport operators have a reason if they don’t want a straight in approach. Most times it’s noise, because you’d overfly sensitive areas, but also when there’s much traffic it’s easy to get dangerous situations where traffic from long finals and the base leg meet … and many times you have somebody coming from the opposite baseleg aswell.
If the operator kindly asks me to use a certain procedure, I will.
If there’s no traffic at all, and no other good reason, then i will decide how i land at an uncontrolled field. It’s not too long ago i approached my own airport’s rwy 25 on a heading of 250. The guy in the tower (not there anymore) tried to insist in “report right base 25” which made zero sense from where i was. Raining and zero traffic … The next time i called him was on final 25 and he fumed because i didn’t follow “his instructions”. I reserve the right to land as i wish under circumstances like this.
mh wrote:
if anyone flies on the left of a highway or railroad or similar
I always learned to fly to the right of them… so as to keep them in clear sight on my left side.
Of course, Jan, you are right. I meant to say that you fly with the feature on your left, so you fly on the right side of it. Thanks for the correction.
kwlf wrote:
which begs the question why emergency turns are now to the right
This is new to me so perhaps someone would be kind enough to explain the rationale behind this please.
Fenland_Flyer wrote:
This is new to me so perhaps someone would be kind enough to explain the rationale behind this please.
As in, if you find yourself flying on a reciprocal course with someone, you should theoretically turn to the right to comply with the rules of the air.
I’ve looked up radial engines, and this link http://www.askcaptainlim.com/flying-the-plane-flying-90/1173-why-must-a-captain-sit-on-the-left-side-of-a-plane.html is wrong: turns to the right are easier with most WW1 rotary engine.
