ANOTHER PATTERN COLLISION - NOT M20

[LANCECASPER]

The Twin Cessna pilot may or may not have been chemically impaired, but he was definitely ego-impaired. It's all been said, but coming into a traffic pattern in-use at that speed says I am way more important than you. Every experienced pilot has been a student pilot at some point. Put yourself in their shoes. If I'm hearing a pilot in a Cessna 152 doing pattern work, how do I know this isn't his first solo? 

[DCarlton]

On 8/27/2022 at 5:38 AM, LANCECASPER said:

The Twin Cessna pilot may or may not have been chemically impaired, but he was definitely ego-impaired. It's all been said, but coming into a traffic pattern in-use at that speed says I am way more important than you. Every experienced pilot has been a student pilot at some point. Put yourself in their shoes. If I'm hearing a pilot in a Cessna 152 doing pattern work, how do I know this isn't his first solo? 

Sadly, since no one has said it, it could be as simple as someone REALLY needing to go to the bathroom.  Then the bad decision making begins.  Seems more likely than chemical impairment to me.  

[Hank]

2 hours ago, DCarlton said:

Sadly, since no one has said it, it could be as simple as someone REALLY needing to go to the bathroom.  Then the bad decision making begins.  Seems more likely than chemical impairment to me.  

Even that enlarged prostate, gotta pee NOW urge goes away in 3-5 minutes. Fly a normal pattern, land, walk inside.

[carusoam]

There are several plan Bs for when the Need2P arises…

@Gagarin prefers the vacuum tube connected to the outside of his plane….

@201er will explain his love of staying hydrated with the Gatorade… and it’s fancy large mouthed, blow molded bottle…. Always verify the color of the drink with the label on the bottle… 

If Robert Frost was a pilot…. He would take the path least travelled by… and opt for the spare Ziploc bag… found in the seat back pocket storage areas…

For those with huge aviation budgets…. Somebody even makes the his and hers version Little John, and the Lady J adapter…

All because… Pissin’ down final approach, at 3 miles a minute, in a busy traffic pattern, will get somebody killed…

 

In Massachusetts speak… he was pissin’ down final…. (Can’t find a reference, Siri doesn’t speak MAian…) is the same as speeding… 

 

Wait… just when you think getting old comes with challenges…. If you have to pee while sitting down for a long time… wait until you stand up!  

Select one of the methods above… put it in your kit!

 

PP thoughts only, not a urologist…

Best regards,

-a-

[Utah20Gflyer]

I get a general feeling that there are a lot of pilots in the sky trying to kill me.    It pays to really keep your eyes and ears open and make sure you know where everyone is.  Never assume people are going to do the correct thing or what you expect.  Ultimately it's going to be up to you to avoid getting killed.  

A month or two ago I had a guy pass me on the downwind going to opposite direction 200 feet below and 500 feet farther out.  He then flipped a 180 to enter the downwind probably about 400 feet below pattern altitude and landed right after me.  Worst part was it was a young eagles flight.   I see stupid stuff like this on the regular unfortunately.    

[Fly Boomer]

On 8/21/2022 at 10:46 PM, DXB said:

Changing the behavior of the 10 mi straight in type folks is probably a lost cause,

Yep.  I have to ask myself who has the high blood pressure -- me or the other guy?

[bradp]

This thread reminds me of the single time I got intentionally cut off in the pattern at (Ocean City) edit MD.  I was on a 45-to a left downwind at TPA.  Making proper calls on the correct frequency etc.  A few hundred feet below me a 310 Cessna comes screaming in on a downwind, under my left wing.  No radio calls at the ultralight TPA.  I get all righteous indigestion and tell my wife I’m going to talk to that guy about his pattern etiquette when we land (not on the radio clearly).  And we’re no slouch - probably doing 120 on DW…  Turns out he didn’t want to talk as he dropped off a pax with at least one engine still running and scurried off.  I’m sure we’ve all had encounters like this… there are pilots who are passively trying to run a race to the threshold no matter who or what stands in the way. 

[dzeleski]

It really seems like people just cant accept being second sometimes. Same goes for driving, god forbid you accelerate from a red light the knuckle head next to you thinks its a race.

The other day I picked up a friend at N12 to fly back home. I was slightly ahead of a turbo prop(PC-12) and technically had the right of way into the downwind. I made a radio call, and he then called similar. Looked down at my iPad with ADSB, clicked to see his airspeed which was far higher then mine. I just told them they can go ahead and ill do a 360 off to the west for spacing. I was already late getting there by almost 40 min, whats another 2 minutes waiting for a 360 to complete.

After landing the pilot walked over to me and said hello/thanks. I get the impression most people wouldnt have done that since they were "first" but that airplane uses more fuel during startup and taxi then my entire flight from NY to NJ.

[Shadrach]

22 hours ago, bradp said:

This thread reminds me of the single time I got intentionally cut off in the pattern at Oceanside MD.  I was on a 45-to a left downwind at TPA.  Making proper calls on the correct frequency etc.  A few hundred feet below me a 310 Cessna comes screaming in on a downwind, under my left wing.  No radio calls at the ultralight TPA.  I get all righteous indigestion and tell my wife I’m going to talk to that guy about his pattern etiquette when we land (not on the radio clearly).  And we’re no slouch - probably doing 120 on DW…  Turns out he didn’t want to talk as he dropped off a pax with at least one engine still running and scurried off.  I’m sure we’ve all had encounters like this… there are pilots who are passively trying to run a race to the threshold no matter who or what stands in the way. 

I live in MD and I have never heard of Oceanside. Is this an obscure and exclusive destination or were you the victim of autocorrect?

[bradp]

37 minutes ago, Shadrach said:

I live in MD and I have never heard of Oceanside. Is this an obscure and exclusive destination or where you the victim of autocorrect?

Ocean city autocorrect:)

[carusoam]

Oceanside is a very exclusive place…. On LI, NY….   

 -a-

[bradp]

And a VOR near KSAN

[Canadian Gal]

On 8/19/2022 at 4:18 PM, Mooneymite said:

I'm sorry that your experience at PRB with jets is so bad.  I can assure you that when a jet driver, I had exactly the same the same goal as everyone else in the pattern:  a safe operation.  I have done many (many!) go arounds, and extended patterns to accomodate slower traffic that had the right of way and many that didn't.  A VFR pattern is a "high-tension event" when flying a jet into an uncontrolled environment.  Mr. Moneybags, in the back, pays a lot of money for a safe flight, that's what his pilots are providing.  Being first, fastest, or badest is nowhere on the list of priorities.

As an aside, thank you to the many (many!) pilots who voluntairily gave way in the interest of efficiency and safety.

 

Thanks for this.

 

At least 10 years ago, I called traffic at an uncontrolled with my intentions, to cross mid field at 1200' agl to get a look at the wind sock.

Once I had done so, I announced that I would be making a right turn, to join the downwind, for a right hand circuit, then landing, full stop.

A Citation Vll came on the radio and thanked me for advising him which way the wind was favoring.

I said, welcome, and I will fly an extended down wind, so they could come straight in, and I would only turn right base after they passed by.

I was surprised by how close they actually got before I had a visual on the Citation, and I was looking for it.

After I announced that I had them in sight, and was going to turn base, the Citation pilot said that despite looking they never saw me.

They thanked me a couple more times, and then after I had landed, and the VIP was whisked away in a cab, they invited me aboard for a look at the jet.

Nice crew, and treated me kindly despite being in just my little Arrow.

[ZuluZulu]

On 9/9/2022 at 7:09 PM, bradp said:

And a VOR near KSAN

That's not all: there's a whole airport, too!