It was 4 o’clock on a Thursday afternoon in March, a beautiful, clear, early spring day. A Cirrus SR22 was approaching the private airport of Aero Plantation, a fly-in community southeast of Charlotte, North Carolina. The 2,400-foot runway is 06/24; its elevation is 624 feet msl. At the nearest reporting facility, Monroe, seven miles to the east, the wind was out of the northwest, 310 at 11, gusting to 20.
Approaching from the south, the pilot of the Cirrus announced his intentions on the Common Traffic Advisory Frequency. He crossed midfield at an altitude of about 800 feet — slightly below the standard pattern altitude — and entered a left downwind leg for Runway 06. He reported turning base on the CTAF.
