Circular Patterns

whether using full flaps

Thursday, February 16, 2017 at 12:00 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

The article advocates for the "circular pattern" or continuous turning approach, a method long used by the U.S. Navy for carrier landings, as a beneficial alternative to the traditional rectangular traffic pattern for general aviation pilots.
This approach enhances safety by reducing the risk of low-altitude loss-of-control accidents; it uses a consistent, moderate bank angle (target 30 degrees) to allow pilots to focus on airspeed and descent, rather than sharp, variable turns.
Beyond safety, the circular pattern offers greater efficiency, being more expeditious and potentially providing better options to reach the runway in a power-loss scenario.
Pilots should practice flying a consistent pattern with a 30-degree bank, using pitch for airspeed and power for descent, and initiate a go-around if corrections require exceeding this bank angle.

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Your mission is complete. It’s time to return to the boat, refuel, get some chow and prepare for the next mission. As you come up the starboard side of the ship just above pattern altitude, the Air Boss clears you for the break. You break hard left, enter the pattern and begin your transition to land. You hit the 180, the 90, roll final, call the ball and continue lining up to land. Just as you land, take the trap and go to full military power, you…wake up. Drat! Another dream!

All of us at one time or another have dreamed of flying some really cool aircraft, and you just did it again. In your dreams, anyway. But you thought that entering that pattern was really something! It is. It has worked well for shipboard flight operations for eight decades. And it can work for you when you fly, no matter if your platform isn’t a multimillion-dollar jet or your runway isn’t doing 35 knots through the ocean.