interesting moment yesterday on final

"Crash Lander" wrote in message
...

Reporting points should be done in miles at uncontrolled airports.

It seems a lot of people have differing views on the interpretation of
this scenario. Maybe they should change the wording, and ruling to state
that an a/c cannot announce that they are on finals, until they are at
circuit height. That would just about rule out straight ins, and at least
if someone does come in on a straight in approach, all the traffic already
in the pattern is at the same altitude, and will spot him easier, rather
than looking to a higher altitude for an a/c that may be hidden by
sunglare or cloud.

I'm not sure I'm following you.

I think most instrument approaches are about a 3 degree glide slope. This
means an aircraft on approach will descend through a pattern altitude of
1000 feet more than 3.5 miles from the airport. And this is just seconds
before they drop into the ground clutter, as viewed by other aircraft at
pattern altitude.