Stupid Newbie Pattern Question

Michael wrote:
The "final" leg at uncontrolled airports is where most air-air
collisions and near misses occur. You have potentially converging
traffic at the same altitude banking, turning and doing GUMPs checks
all in a very confined space.My strong recommendation is to avoid
straight in approaches at uncontrolled airports. it can be hard to see
the guy turning from base to final who is flying a normal pattern and
he is not too likely to see you. It may be legal to do straight
ins...but it isn't prudent.


Actually, I think you'll find that nearly all of those accidents involve
either two aircraft on final who had flow the traffic pattern or
involved an aircraft rolling out or departing on the ground.

It's rare that there is a straight-in involved because most people DO
fly the patterns. Your comments about people being distracted and
fixated on the threshold is well take though.