interesting moment yesterday on final

Matt Whiting wrote:
Margy Natalie wrote:

Steven P. McNicoll wrote:

"Orval Fairbairn" wrote in message
news
An aircraft on final has the right-of-way, big jet or 150.


Not if he is 5 mile out!



Distance doesn't matter. If right-of-way is an issue the aircraft on
final
has the right-of-way.

It appears you interpret "right-of-way" to mean "the next aircraft to
land".
That's not what it means. Right-of-way rules come into play only if the
aircraft concerned would otherwise occupy the same piece of sky, or
nearly
so. If you're on downwind when another similar aircraft announces a
long
straight-in you should be well in front of him and right-of-way
shouldn't be
an issue. If it's a faster aircraft then right-of-way may well be an
issue
so you'll have to extend your downwind to follow him.



I prefer the overhead approach, so I can
determine the least disruptive arrival. You approach at pattern
altitude, down the runway, check for traffic on downwind and break to
the downwind. That way, you are not charging into traffic turning base
to final, while you are watching for the airspeed to diminish to drop
the gear, wait for "gear safe" and set up landing. IMHO, the
straight in
ranks among the "least preferred" of approaches.



There's nothing inherently wrong with a straight in approach, it is
often
the safest. The problem is many pilots that believe a full pattern
should
always be flown don't properly scan for traffic.

I don't have a problem with folks flying a straight in as long as they
do it well. I did have issue with the twin who's first announcement
was XXXX final abeam the Cessna when I was on my 2nd pattern of my
FIRST SOLO. I think he was low and in the ground clutter when I
looked up final. About 30 seconds after he announced I say him shoot
past me and well below. When I was a student the other thing that
bothered me a lot was the instrument guys coming in on straight in and
they were playing strictly by the books, but I had NO idea what Rikki
inbound meant. 5 miles out on a straight in would have made so much
more sense to me!

Margy


I was taught to make calls based on distance rather than approach fix
when practicing approaches in VMC at an uncontrolled airport for just
this reason.

Matt
You had a good instructor!

Margy