My Biggest Pet Peeve: Pattern Cyclers Who...

[JimParker256]

I believe a little courtesy goes a long way... I was flying into Austin Executive (KEDC) one day in my Grumman Traveler – before they had a control tower. The wind was about 150º at 15 knots, so I entered downwind for runway 13. At about midfield, I heard a Citation call "Ten mile final, inbound on the GPS 31 approach." Hmm. He's landing with an almost 15-knot tailwind component, in the opposite direction to the calls I've been making since I was 5 miles outside the pattern. If I keep going, with my normal tight pattern, we're going to be head-on at opposite ends of the runway...

I thought about how much fuel he would burn doing a missed approach or circling around to land on 13, versus the small amount of fuel it would take me to make a 360º turn for spacing... I immediately announced my intention to make that 360 on downwind, and that I would land on runway 13 once he was clear of runway 31. He gave me a brief "Thanks" and said he would announce when he was clear.

We both landed safely, and my extra couple of minutes in the pattern resulted in a negligible amount of additional avgas being consumed. KEDC has a nice "shade canopy" you can park under while you load/unload and make fueling/parking arrangements, so I pulled into the shade to park. Shortly afterward, the Citation pilot walked over from his corporate hangar to personally thank me for making accomodation for his "downwind landing"... I laughed and told him that I was pretty sure I enjoyed flying the 360 more than he enjoyed his landing. He laughed, and walked around my little 160-HP Grumman, complimenting me on what a "sharp looking" airplane I was flying, and adding that he was pretty sure I was having a LOT more fun than he was – all day long!

A few minutes later, when I went into the FBO to arrange to have the plane fueled, I learned that my fuel had been paid for by the Citation crew. Made my day!

[JJay]

Interestingly, I had a similar situation just yesterday afternoon. The rains cleared, finally, at Palatka Florida (28J) and the wind was light and coming from the south. I was the only active pilot on the field and announced I'd be doing left closed traffic on 17. Just after I announced downwind on my second lap, someone announced that they were 12 miles out on the ILS for runway 9. He had a good reason to use 9 and I had a good reason to use 17 - no one was being selfish, it was just the way things happened.

I could see him on ADS-B but couldn't tell how fast he was coming in, so I asked him to give me a heads-up at 3 miles. I guess he was pretty fast and I was pretty slow because I was only just about to announce my turn to final on 17 when he announced a 2.5 mile final to 9. He said he was "looking for me" and didn't think it would be a problem. I didn't think visual contact was all that important when both planes are already committed to landing on runways at ~90 degree angles to each other, so I told him I'd abort the landing and do a 270 to re-enter final while he cleared the intersection. He was polite and said he didn't think it necessary, but I was already throttled up and ascending to make the turn safely.

As I came around I could see he was just touching down and I still wasn't sure there wouldn't be a conflict at the runway intersection, so I announced I'd changed my mind and I was heading for a left base to runway 9. Everybody landed safely on 9 and I did my last landing back on 17 (into the light wind). As the OP said, it's good to change things up once in awhile rather than doing the same pattern robotically. It also feels good to know you can stay sharp, be flexible, and make last-minute changes to the plan.

[drseti]

I tell my students that there is no such thing as "landing assured," and that every single pattern is an approach to a go-around. I applaud the flexibility being discussed in this thread.

[Warmi]

I tell my students that there is no such thing as "landing assured," and that every single pattern is an approach to a go-around. I applaud the flexibility being discussed in this thread.

A few days ago I had to do a 360 on final because a guy in RV decided to take off while I was on short final - he even specifically mentioned that "he would be out of my way quickly" but of course he wasn't ( even though RVs are pretty sporty )

Unless we are talking here life and death situations - I generally don't complain or even say anything to anyone , just do whatever I need to do to get around the problem ...


https://youtu.be/mx9TMrJfPs0

[AGLyme]

I fly a Flight Design. Approaching the home airport yesterday and i recognized the guy beside me about a mile away... he too was coming in. I zigged a bit so he could "obviously" get in front of me. He was flying a Skylane, therefore faster than my LSA anyway.. and he is a very nice guy with a good sense of humor. He landed first, I announced #2 behind the Skylane.
When we ran into each other on the ground he said he appreciated the obvious accommodation, I teased back "I saw an old guy in an old metal plane so I let him go in front of me"... we both laughed.
I consider pattern courtesies a "personal minimum". I don't like screwing around, I would rather make an accommodation any day than to create stress. The rules are all laid out in the FAA manual anyway... it all boils down to common sense regarding the least stress option for both pilots.