"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in
ps.com:

Ummm lost pilot doesn't bode well for traffic?????


No, why does what I describe **almost** sound like an emergency
situation for a lost pilot?

Ummm, situational awareness comes to mind???? A pilot bumbling around a
busy airport and not seeing the airport sure sounds like an emergency
situation developing to me.

Surely you can't see a bumbling pilot poking along through a pattern of
an airport not causing problems or an emergency situation that may
directly affect the safety of flight. Big sky theory will fail.

Note, it may not even be the bumbling pilot, but another pilot that has
to take evasive action due to the lack of situational awareness from the
lost pilot. Yep, a developing emergency.

Be realistic, clear
day, VMC and the pilot doesn't see the airport within a couple of
miles?

Sounds like a problem, not the norm.


No, not if the the pilot doesn't see the field within a couple of
miles, if he doesn't see it until he is within a couple of miles.

obviously you are playing some type of semantic game as I really have no
clue what you are trying to say above.....

My take for what it's worth, if a pilot does not see an airport within a
couple of miles FROM THE AIRPORT, then you have a potential emergency
situation developing. Loss of situational awareness surely can be
considered an emergency. As stated in an earlier post, this is not
normal that I have seen in my short 5 years of flying.

If you are trying to say that the pilot doesn't see an airport from lets
say 15 miles vs 13 miles out from the airport, then yeah, that isn't a
problem.

Allen