Pattern traffic

ScottK

ScottK

Pre-takeoff checklist
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ScottK
I'll preface this by saying that I'm not complaining. I'm simply curious about traffic pattern etiquette.

Saturday morning, I wound up following a student from the local flight school around the pattern for a little while. He was doing fine except for the fact that he was flying the pattern a little slow and kept extending his downwind a good bit before turning base. I slowed down to give him space and extended my upwind, but I would eventually catch him again.

Would it be rude/improper to ask to turn base inside of him? I was typically on a 1/2 mile base to final to his 1.5 mile base to final. Given my speed and his, this would allow me to create some separation and not be pushing him. This was at a Class D and we were the only two in the pattern.

Like I said, I'm not complaining. I'm just curious if it would be considered improper to ask tower to let me do that.
 
All they can do is say no, but I have a suspicion that tower wouldn’t like for you to cut infront of another aircraft.
 
I was one of 3 in the pattern, 2 in front of me. One was turning left base, the other in front of me who had just past the numbers. I had not reach the numbers yet when ATC told me to turn and land now. So put the throttle to idle and made a descending turn to the runway landing with 3/4 of the runway left.

Now this was at Sun-In-Fun and the runway was closing soon. Guess they wanted us down fast.
 
At a towered airport, the controller gets to decide what's proper etiquette. If this happened a couple of times and you asked for a short approach, the controller would probably see what's going on and grant it, and maybe send the student out a little farther on downwind to facilitate.


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Eric Gleason said:
At a towered airport, the controller gets to decide what's proper etiquette. If this happened a couple of times and you asked for a short approach, the controller would probably see what's going on and grant it, and maybe send the student out a little farther on downwind to facilitate.
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Watch traffic a bit closer if a controller tries to set you up to land ahead of the slower traffic. I’ve had controllers misjudge the timing to the point I wouldn’t accept the short approach.
 
ScottK said:
I'll preface this by saying that I'm not complaining. I'm simply curious about traffic pattern etiquette.

Saturday morning, I wound up following a student from the local flight school around the pattern for a little while. He was doing fine except for the fact that he was flying the pattern a little slow and kept extending his downwind a good bit before turning base. I slowed down to give him space and extended my upwind, but I would eventually catch him again.

Would it be rude/improper to ask to turn base inside of him? I was typically on a 1/2 mile base to final to his 1.5 mile base to final. Given my speed and his, this would allow me to create some separation and not be pushing him. This was at a Class D and we were the only two in the pattern.

Like I said, I'm not complaining. I'm just curious if it would be considered improper to ask tower to let me do that.
Click to expand...
Wouldn't you just catch him right away again, especially if you're doing T&G's?

Maybe with just 2 in the pattern, this would be a good time to ask to do a (right) 360 on (left) downwind as practice and in place of speeding everything up. Then you wouldn't have to extend your upwind and might be closer to the airport in case of an emergency.

I've only ever been given one 360 and it was on base just prior to turning final. It really messed with my mojo as I was 600agl, 20deg of flaps and slow. CFI had me immediately speed up and climb so we had some safety margin (altitude+speed). It was for crossing runways which confused me even more until I had time to think about it. I feel like the next time I'm at the Delta, if its quiet I should request one on downwind and one on base.
 
Perfect time to practice slow flight, or practice "formation flying" by matching his/her speed; or if the other plane is setting up for a straight in approach as it sounds, go ahead and call for the shorty, the controller will give it to you but I don't think you'll get that many more landing in than if you just followed.
 
ScottK said:
I'll preface this by saying that I'm not complaining. I'm simply curious about traffic pattern etiquette.

Saturday morning, I wound up following a student from the local flight school around the pattern for a little while. He was doing fine except for the fact that he was flying the pattern a little slow and kept extending his downwind a good bit before turning base. I slowed down to give him space and extended my upwind, but I would eventually catch him again.

Would it be rude/improper to ask to turn base inside of him? I was typically on a 1/2 mile base to final to his 1.5 mile base to final. Given my speed and his, this would allow me to create some separation and not be pushing him. This was at a Class D and we were the only two in the pattern.

Like I said, I'm not complaining. I'm just curious if it would be considered improper to ask tower to let me do that.
Click to expand...

Nah. Ask for a short approach Inside that slow guy. You'll find out soon enough if they think it's rude. I certainly don't
 
Ryanb said:
All they can do is say no, but I have a suspicion that tower wouldn’t like for you to cut infront of another aircraft.
Click to expand...

You'd be surprised. Controllers are often painfully aware of the habits of certain students/instructors/schools of flying slow airplanes (Cessnas) on obnoxiously wide patterns. This is especially true if you're entering the delta at similar times, from similar places. They can sometimes see this and will offer a short approach to the faster plane.
 
N1120A said:
You'd be surprised. Controllers are often painfully aware of the habits of certain students/instructors/schools of flying slow airplanes (Cessnas) on obnoxiously wide patterns. This is especially true if you're entering the delta at similar times, from similar places. They can sometimes see this and will offer a short approach to the faster plane.
Click to expand...

Yup. They also remember if you can normally do/handle nice tight patterns.

“Slowpoke 12345 extend downwind, I’ll call your base. Cessna That Can Do Stuff, cleared to land Runway X, Short Approach Approved.”
 
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