non-towered airport question

However I figure I should ask for a sanity-check on whether
what's SOP at home is regarded as inappropriate or rude
elsewhere.

With three (well, okay, six) runways to choose from here at IOW, I always
try to follow the "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" rule of runway
selection, and I appreciate it when everyone else does, too.

This isn't a perfect strategy either, of course. For example, the wind can
change, and suddenly everyone is stuck using the "wrong" runway, simply due
to inertia. (This can make for some interesting plane watching -- not
everyone's cross-wind technique is as sharp as it could be! :-)

But having everyone on the same runway makes the pattern work the
smoothest -- which, ultimately, helps keep us all safe.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:UwIMb.37328$na.29723@attbi_s04...

But having everyone on the same runway makes the pattern work the
smoothest -- which, ultimately, helps keep us all safe.

Hi Jay,

I appreciate your POV, but actually I disagree. My target
airspeed on final is 10 knots faster than well-flown brand
P or C and I usually want to fly a tighter pattern, too. So
it's actually smoothest for me to "do my own thing". It's
actually easier to space properly with orthogonal separation.
There oughta be a little web-based simulator program to show
this -- can one add two airplanes to Tim's VOR simulator?

Safer, I think that very much depends upon the circumstances.
I think it's largely a feeling of familiarity "everybody going
in the same rectangle" which makes people feel safer, but I'm
not sure it really is. I think people relax too much with
radio calls and don't always really keep a proper look-out.
I've certainly broken out or broken off or done a sudden
dive maneuver when someone who just called "entering downwind"
showed up on base or the like. Just my opinion.

OTOH I don't want to P/O people just for grins, so if there's
a tendency to *perceive* it as safer, that's relevant.

Cheers,
Sydney

In article , Snowbird
wrote:

Sydney, tell us what airport it is so we can look at an airport diagram.

EDR wrote in message ...
In article , Snowbird
wrote:
Sydney, tell us what airport it is so we can look at an airport diagram.

Sorry, didn't see this before

SET

Don't know if thihs link will work:
http://www.aopa.org/members/airports...identifier=SET

Rwy 36, 27, both left traffic

To someone who emailed me: my assessment of the conflicts w/
rwy 27 and 36 both in active use is 1) if planes are taking off/
climbing out at the same time, and life sucks 2) crosswind for
27 and a section of downwind for 36 3) potentially someone entering
downwind for 27 on a 45, with downwind for 36.

Cheers,
Sydney