"m pautz" wrote in message
news:7yEzc.44640$0y.5757@attbi_s03...


So, the question I have for the group is why are power planes taught to
have these wide patterns with low angled turns?

The planes are not taught anything. We do sometimes try to teach their
pilots something. :-)

The risks associated with an accelerated stall are greater than the risks
associated with a power failure. Students are taught to keep their bank
angle less than 30 degrees in order to avoid an accelerated stall. Steep
turns also cause powered airplanes to develop a high rate of descent.


Why are the patterns
outside the glide angle of a powerless airplane?

Nevertheless, a shallower angle of bank does not mean that anyone has to be
beyond gliding distance from the runway. Students are supposed to be taught
to remain within gliding distance at all times while in the pattern. This is
not always possible because of noise abatement and other considerations
(apparently people would rather you die if that is what it takes for them to
maintain the illusion of peace and quiet).

Aircraft coming in low on approach and adding power at the last moment may
have legitimate reasons for doing so, such as practicing short and soft
field landings, practicing techniques for correcting faulty approaches,
balked landings, and so forth. Or the approach may simply have been botched
by the pilot, which is common enough.

One reason students tend to do wider patterns than they should not is that
they are behind the airplane. They are still trying to find the throttle and
flaps when they should be turning on base, for example, so they delay
turning base. Although instructors try to prevent this, it is wearying to
remind the student what he should be doing each time around the pattern when
it appears that the student has his hands full already. Granted, if
instructors taught the student to stay ahead of the airplane in the first
place then they would not have this problem.

The problem also comes from instructors who are behind the student, just as
the student is behind the airplane. The instructor knows when he would turn
on the carburetor heat, reduce power, add flaps, etc., so he tells the
student to do these things when the instructor would do them. Unfortunately,
if you tell a student to reduce power to 1500 rpm, he will look at you
blankly for a moment, look around for the throttle, look around for the
tach, then tentatively pull the power back a little bit. By the time he has
done this it is well past the time he should be doing a whole bunch of other
things. It takes instructors a little experience to realize this and to
start staying ahead of the student just as a pilot stays ahead of his
airplane.

By the time the student has flown several patterns he has developed some bad
habits. Now he flies bomber patterns and the instructor has to waste time
and money trying to break the student of a habit he should never have
developed in the first place.

There are things that help inexperienced instructors to overcome these
problems. First of all, pattern work is not introduced in most syllabi until
the student has had an opportunity to become familiar with the controls.
Still, it is tempting to start on pattern work even though the student still
has not figured out where the throttle is. The instructor is anxious to push
the student (experienced instructors are even more prone to this) and it is
often a fine balance between challenging the student and overwhelming him.

Finally, I get a sense from your query a desire to have everybody in the
pattern doing the same thing. This is simply not possible. Gliders and
ultralights will fly patterns inside those of heavier powered aircraft. High
performance aircraft may be required to fly a wider pattern at higher
altitude. Helicopters will fly opposite patterns. Aircraft on instrument
approaches are likely to fly circle to land patterns both inside and below
anyone else, etc. The airport pattern is not a road with stripes painted on
the shoulders and centerline, and little signs floating in the air
announcing your speed and altitude. Nor should it be. The airspace around an
airport is four dimensional, changing dynamically moment by moment as well
as in height, width and depth. Look for traffic to come from anywhere at any
time, not where you arbitrarily think it is 'supposed' to be. It is probably
more helpful to think of the pattern less as a rectangle at a fixed height
above the runway than to think of it as funnel shaped with aircraft at any
point on the wall of the funnel.