A Sarcastic View of Pattern Flying

[cancidas]

got this from a friend who flies a Seneca for a living. i used to wonder why patters were so damn big too, and at FRG on weekends they can stretch from the north shoreline to the other. long live the helo, but here is the video anyway:

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[threeholerglory]

nice find, i like it a lot! even flying light twins i always fly a tighter pattern...safer for everyone, and more fun and challenging. I agree with everything that was said in the video and I feel it should be shown to ALL instructors. Not just the ones who get hard-ons for stripes.

[lijk604]

That was great...although I though they taught longer patterns to get the extra .1 or .2 of flight time that they can charge the students. ;)

[cancidas]

That was great...although I though they taught longer patterns to get the extra .1 or .2 of flight time that they can charge the students. ;)
that too i guess. i always hated FRG on weekends. you'd enter the pattern for 19 and fly all the way to the mall before turning final. my instructor hated it but i always put the flaps up and dropped the power until i actually pushed the nose over.

[PhilDernerJr]

I love the 12 stripes hahah.

[Nassau Flyers]

LOL that video made me laugh. Very true and I have to agree with pretty much everything he said. The truth is though, at most class C, D and B airports you just don't have the chance to fly a tight pattern due to sequencing from ATC. As said above, Farmingdale gets pretty nutty on nice weekends (like today!) and our downwind legs turn into mini cross-countries LOL. We had FRG ATC at our last pilot club meeting and they too encouraged (of course) a tight pattern. It makes their lives easier and helps keep traffic moving along smoothly.

If you ever find yourself on long finals, use the time and opportunity to practice precision flying. Your goal would be to fly the plane as if it were on rails (perfect glide slope, speedo isn't moving at all, plane never leaves center line...even 10 miles away..). If you do this right, you will find yourself hardly working (the plane will end up landing itself) and your landing should feel among your best ever. This is baring clam and clean weather conditions of course but even in windy conditions it helps to take some work off your plate if you already used flying the plane "on rails".