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pattern etiquette question


rbridges

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1 hour ago, N201MKTurbo said:

If a Jet asks nicely if he could cut in front of me I will always accommodate. If he tells me to get out of the way he can go #$%^ himself.

I've had jet pilots work with me going into AUO. We were both on the radio, him from the north, me from the west, closer and lower. He flew the pattern, kind of wide and fast, in a continuous bank. Had a nice view of his landing as I crossed the field. He stopped his taxi and watched my landing before heading over to the FBO. Nice guy, rather large business jet.

See, we really can work together. 

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3 hours ago, xcrmckenna said:

If fuel was that big of a deal he could of taken off on 16 easily 10-15 minutes sooner with two quick turns and been long gone and not moved any other pilots out of their standard pattern. And probably been a cool site for the other pilots watching the Falcon climb out. Maybe he had time to burn for his IFR release I'm not sure. But the pattern was disrupted for a period of time.

It varies from jet to jet, but as a rule of thumb, 9 minutes of taxi time =1 of flight time fuel.  There are other costs to consider since taxi time doesn't count toward flight time on the engines and airframe.  If the jet was headed northwest on an IFR, using 16, it could be 20 miles before ATC got him identified and turned back around.  We try not to cause upheaval, but yes, we've (wind, runway permitting) asked to turn the airport around for our departure.  We are painfully aware that everyone must abide by the same rules.

Fuel isn't always critical, but it is always a concern with a jet, particularly at low altitudes!

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I've flown into a number of airports where light jets (and even some bigger ones) are present.  KDUX,  KMTJ,  KDRO,  KCOD, 11R, and KHDC come to mind.  Generally everyone seems to work well together.   I'm generally inclined to let a jet go around me, as it almost never delays me by more than 30 seconds.  On the other hand, I have had to go around more than once by flight instructors that have a conversation on the runway, or a tail dragger that  wants to taxi the length of the runway at 2 mph (when they could landed near the taxiway). 

My last experience with a jet was 2 weeks ago at KDUX.  I was very appreciative of the jet pilot when he canceled IFR in the air.  It let me get in without having to cancel IFR before getting the airport in sight (or get delayed with a hold).  --And right after we both landed, a crop duster came in.  All of it was a non-event.   The jet came straight in on an instrument approach.   I crossed mid field for a down wind entry.  The crop duster showed up 2 minutes later. 

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On 10/15/2017 at 3:01 PM, rbridges said:

If it turned out that we'd both be landing at the same time, how do you figure who has  right of way? 

The explanations that are in the FARs are nice and the rules of etiquette are great, but since you asked . . . if it even remotely looks close that I would be landing at the same time as someone else I could care less who has the right of way. Whether it's been a long flight or not and I want to land, I will gladly communicate to the other person that I'll be #2. I don't care who wins, I just don't want any ties. The fact that he was on short final when you were still exiting the runway is too close for me. What you did may have been legal and may have been proper etiquette, but for me it would be less stress just to extend my downwind, keep him in sight and land #2.

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6 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

 but for me it would be less stress just to extend my downwind, keep him in sight and land #2.

Same here.  I fly my Mooney for fun.  I've always figured that I get to have 5 more minutes of fun flying my favorite airplane in the world.  

I always tried to impart that to my students, too.  Let the other guy go first, even if he's a jerk.  If he's a nice guy, he'll appreciate it.  If he's not, starting a confrontation over the radio isn't going to change him- at the end of the day, he'll still be an jerk.

Edited by Andy95W
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