At 00:30 13 March 2005, Bob Korves wrote:

patterns, and you don't need to go to the center of
the airport first, so
the distance is really 3/4 mile or much less to a downwind
or base leg.

Actually it's 50/50 as to whether it's 3/4 or 1-1/4
mi depending which side of the pattern you're finishing
on. Of course you can always do a rolling finish, but
that's true of the gate too.

Like I said, I don't see one type of finish as obviously
safer than another from an energy perspective - I've
flown both a fair number of times. The thing I do find
a little troubling about the cylinder is that it can
be a more 'head's down' process, since it's impossible
to 'eyeball' the cylinder either in terms of height
or location. This means that some pilots will be looking
at their computers rather than outside at exactly the
wrong time. I don't think its a huge deal, since most
pilots don't try to cut it that close anyway.

Also, I don't think there's anything in the rules that
says you can't do a pass over the field after a cylinder
finish is there?

9B