On Friday, July 29, 2016 at 5:19:53 PM UTC-5, BobW wrote:

I don't comprehend why a circle-from-downwind-to-final landing pattern in a
glider "...has to be done from a low downwind, and it happens fast." I
understand it CAN be done that way, but not why it MUST be done that way.

Because you are taking out the base leg - and the altitude and time spend exiting the first 90 degree turn, flying the base leg, then entering the second 90 degree turn to final. All this takes time and altitude so either you fly a tight, low downwind and 180 to final, or you fly higher and wider and use 2 90s (or 2 45s and a 90). That's assuming you want to use reasonable angles of bank, not a real shallow 180 turn.

Back to my original puzzlement...am I correct in believing "military approved"
circling approaches essentially do NOT include "a straight final" portion,
a-la the "immediately before touchdown" curving flight path understandably
employed by (e.g.) Pitts biplane pilots as a means of retaining over-the-nose
vision for as long as possible until the runway edges appear on either side of
the nose?

No, it is based on rolling out on final at a comfortable distance from the threshold to allow for the final lineup and xwind correction. In jets it was about 1 mile out, in a glider it can be closer but you still want a comfortable final. The old "continuous turn to touchdown" was used by WW2 fighters (and Pitts', BTDT!) where you couldn't see the runway over the nose on a straight final. But it works nicely in a glider if your front seat passenger has big hair! ;^)

In our sport you take whatever pattern entry you can and should be able to safely land. Yesterday I was working a weak thermal just off the end of our club's runway - I had notified ground ops where I was and could see that there was no conflicting traffic, and used the opportunity to work on low save/landout procedures - which didn't work so I just rolled out at 500' or so and landed straight ahead, rolling up to the clubhouse. No standard pattern, but good training, I think. Some may disagree, and that's fine. I've had to do the same in real landouts and I like practicing non-standard approaches in a safe environment (I was watching the pattern and could break out and land at any time if conflicting traffic appeared). Perhaps that is from military training where you often practice emergency procedures in the air - watch F-16s doing SFO (simulated flame out) approaches sometime - there is an exciting way to land!

Kirk
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