Perspective.
We all have it, but oftentimes not the same perspective.
Some examples:
- No radio aircraft (NORDO) or radio-equipped aircraft
- The straight-in approach or a standard pattern
- 100LL or unleaded avgas
- Learner or student
- High-wing, low-wing, or rotary-wing
- Experimental or certified
- Single engine or multiple engine
I learned to fly before the electronic flight bag (EFB) and have no use for such an application in the Cub I too rarely fly. But I certainly see the advantages of such a tool.
That same Cub has no installed radio and I don’t have a handheld radio. Some reading this will label me irresponsible or worse. Many will agree and point to FAR/AIM chapters and verses to prove that I don’t need to carry a radio or use it if I do carry it.
I fly a standard pattern so other pilots will know what they can expect of me. You won’t find me flying a straight-in approach. (Unless a busy pattern has so enlarged that it feels like a straight-in approach).
While I’m happy to fly both single- and multi-engine aircraft, I’ve had conversations with pilots who will NOT fly a single-engine aircraft.
When I learned to fly, I was labeled a student. Today I’d be called a learner. Language has always evolved. I don’t necessarily agree with it, but it still evolves.
I have a great many memories flying high-wing aircraft as well as low-wing aircraft and even rotary-wing aircraft. And yet, some pilots are loyal to only their craft.
General Aviation News has published several stories about Lighthawk, an organization that uses general aviation for conservation efforts. Often times, the focus of the story is to get people aloft to see a river or a dam or a mine or something else from a different perspective.
There’s that word. Perspective.
I have my own perspective. So do you.
My perspective is informed by the 53+ years I’ve lived.
Your perspective is informed by the years you’ve lived.
Whose perspective is the right one?
Neither.
Whose perspective is the wrong one?
Neither.
As for me, I do the best I can to stay true to my perspective and my values. And yet, I also try to remain open-minded enough for when someone presents a differing perspective I can actually hear it and think about it.
I think the saying is “Strong beliefs, lightly held.”
According to the recently revised FAA Advisory Circular 90-66, paragraph 8.2.1: “The FAA does not regulate traffic pattern entry, only traffic pattern flow.”
So is it OK for a radio-equipped and communicating aircraft to perform a 10-mile straight-in approach to a pattern-filled airport?
It depends on your perspective.
The pilot at the controls of the plane on the 10-mile straight-in who thinks they can smoothly slide into the short final sequence will likely feel differently than the 172 who is number 7 in the pattern.
Paragraph 9.5 of the AC, titled Straight-In Landings, notes: “The FAA encourages pilots to use the standard traffic pattern… However, there are occasions when a pilot can choose to execute a straight-in approach for landing when not intending to enter the traffic pattern… Pilots should clearly communicate on CTAF and coordinate maneuvering for and execution of the landing with other traffic so as not to disrupt the flow of other aircraft.”
It is nice to see the FAA encouraging something. 🙂
The FAA does not forbid straight-ins and suggests pilots “should clearly communicate” as opposed to requiring such communication.
Even the disruption of the flow of other aircraft can be a matter of perspective. If I know the intentions of the aircraft flying the straight-in is a touch and go, I might feel OK about them sliding in ahead of me than if their intention is a stop and go or full stop.
Perspectives, like opinions, are something everyone has.
It is best to keep that thought in mind…from my perspective.
Ben
I completely agree with you.
For “perspective”,
AOPA. 682160
EAA. 106287
IAC 6870
I learned to fly at the Aero Club at Randolph AFB, Texas in an Aeronca Chief.
Yes, we flew NORDO on a military base!!!
Yes, we learned LOT about judgement.
Perspective: this was in 1960. Things are different now, but some things like judgement do not change.
I received the FAA Master Pilot Award in
2011, and was inducted into the Illinois Aviation Hall of Fame in 2020.
I flew a hot air balloon in the 70’s a Pitts S1S for 18 years of competition, and currently fly an Aeronca L-16A.
I realized that at my age, in my judgement, the Pitts was more airplane than I should fly.
As a side note about whose opinion really counts, my long time insurance agent told me that they would not be able to insure me at ANY price in the Pitts when I reached 75.
I’m turning 82 next month, and am able to fly my L-16A, safely, legally, ( just did my flight review) and my perspective and judgement is improving with age.
My wife and my CFI agree.
I think that ‘perspective’ is the wrong term.
I would say ‘a pilot’s attitude to fly a safely as possible’ while following all the FARs and the AIM.
Flying a Cub off a private grass runway at a farm in Iowa is a lot different from flying off a busy GA airport like Van Nuys . or Osh in August.! [ yeah they have towers].
I used to fly out of Lincoln, CA [klhm], but after many ‘incidents’, I moved to a much quieter airport, kmyv, where everyone follows the FARs and radio use. I feel much safer knowing where everyone is in the pattern and who is approaching and from where.!!!
I don’t like straight-in approachs, for one thing the airport I’m hangared at has dear and geese often on the runway, last week it had a Sonex in the middle of the runway that had an issue and had aborted the takeoff, the pilot was out of the plane and having to push it to the taxiway. And for safety I wish the pilots practicing RNAV approaches would call out 5 and 3 miles out too, we have so many airports in the area on the same frequency transmissions often get stepped on. Sometimes See and Avoid just doesn’t work, I don’t want to be in the sometime.
Ben, I don’t give a hoot about your Perspective and especially your Values, I just don’t want to bump into you while I fly around the patch….use a radio sir.
I agree with almost every thing You’ve written, Mr. Gary Courtland, exception made to the part You said “To a certain (though limited) extent, I agree with you”. In fact, I don’t see quite nothing in wich I’m agreeing with Mr. Ben Sinclair, after being in aviation for more than 50 years (and no accidents or even incidents ’till now). That is not a question of perspective. Is a question of selfishness, irresponsibility and to scorn the others, therefore unworthy to be published in an site dedicated to aviation.
Ben, I might have written this piece. It sounds like and reflects my 55+ years in aviation. A few thousand hours here, a few there and maint ratings to go with them. Thank you
Ben, I understand your opinion (or perspective?) on people having different perspectives based on their different experiences and situations. To a certain (though limited) extent, I agree with you. But I strongly disagree with your piece’s implication that all perspectives or opinions are equally valid. They clearly are not. Things don’t just “generally work out” if everyone decides to just “roll their own.” A certain amount of style-cramping conformity may be necessary to ensure predictability and safety, whether in the pattern or elsewhere. Communication is a big part of that. Flying NORDO in the sticks is one thing, but insisting on the “right” to not even use a cheap portable radio around an airport with other traffic is something else entirely. I call that something else irresponsible, selfish, and potentially dangerous behavior. Of course, that’s just my “perspective.”
I do a lot of instrument instruction. At our airport I report that we’re straight but use mileage (10 mile final) AND on the RNAV Rwy XX. Most “learners”, and pilots, don’t know the fixes on an instrument approach therefore adding how far out one is enables the “learner” or other rated pilots to know where we are. It’s coordination and generally it works out.