Pietenpol-List: Traffic Patterns (was Re: Brodhead flybys)
Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 2:12 pm
Original Posted By: owner-pietenpol-list-server(at)matronics.com
I agree, Scott. I'm continually at odds with the Flying Club at my local airport where they teach their students to fly downwind a mile and a half off the runway and 2 mile finals. I make it a point to fly my downwind leg close enough to be able to make the runway in the event of an engine failure (I've had one too, in a certificated airplane). In a Pietenpol, that requires a VERY close downwind, since its glide ratio is somewhere between that of a brick and a bowling ball.I recently got my certification as a Flight Instructor and the Inspector from FSDO was pleased when I flew my downwind within an easy glide of the runway (this is a Cherokee Arrow that glides no better than a Pietenpol - best glide speed is 105 mph, which requires a nose down attitude of about 20 degrees, andit comes down at about 800 fpm!). He said he was ready to pull the engine if I had made a wide pattern, just to make a point, but I didn't give him the opportunity.Different airplanes obviously require different pattern sizes, otherwise we'd all be making patterns the size of bizjets. Given that premise, why not fly the pattern so you can make the airport if the engine quits?Jack PhillipsNX899JPRaleigh, NC-----Original Message-----
I agree, Scott. I'm continually at odds with the Flying Club at my local airport where they teach their students to fly downwind a mile and a half off the runway and 2 mile finals. I make it a point to fly my downwind leg close enough to be able to make the runway in the event of an engine failure (I've had one too, in a certificated airplane). In a Pietenpol, that requires a VERY close downwind, since its glide ratio is somewhere between that of a brick and a bowling ball.I recently got my certification as a Flight Instructor and the Inspector from FSDO was pleased when I flew my downwind within an easy glide of the runway (this is a Cherokee Arrow that glides no better than a Pietenpol - best glide speed is 105 mph, which requires a nose down attitude of about 20 degrees, andit comes down at about 800 fpm!). He said he was ready to pull the engine if I had made a wide pattern, just to make a point, but I didn't give him the opportunity.Different airplanes obviously require different pattern sizes, otherwise we'd all be making patterns the size of bizjets. Given that premise, why not fly the pattern so you can make the airport if the engine quits?Jack PhillipsNX899JPRaleigh, NC-----Original Message-----