Geoff Butler's Flight School
Arriving at Airfields in VFR Conditions
At airports and airfields that are not too busy, a standard method of joining the traffic pattern for landing is in operation. Normally the aircraft will join an airfield circuit from the dead side (the side away from the circuit). The aircraft will position into Crosswind Leg then Downwind Leg then Base Leg and then Final. Circuits can either be Left or Right Hand patterns. Normally a circuit is a Left hand pattern. A green flag being flown on a mast near the control tower would indicate a Right hand circuit. The circuit height is normally 1000ft above the airfield and the pilot fly's the legs at this height except the base and final. the speed in the circuit for a light aircraft is normally 85-90 knots . (Bigger aircraft obviously this will be more.)
Should the aircraft approach from the live side of the circuit, the aircraft will fly over the airfield 1000ft above the circuit traffic onto the dead side. Then descend in an s turn to circuit height and join in the crosswind leg from the dead side at 1000ft for crosswind and downwind leg.
If it was not busy the Air Traffic Controller could allow an aircraft join straight into a downwind position to join in the base leg. Aircraft may be given a straight in approach . The pilot would call Long Final at 8 miles and short final at 4 miles. Similar procedures will apply for left hand circuits. If you are not sure draw them out on paper for
This applies to all types of aircraft including airliners. If an airliner flies the circuit the pilot would have difficulty looking behind him. The pilot would normally fly on a stop watch for 45 seconds from a point level with the approach end of the runway IE when the approach end of the runway is at the 3 or 9 o' clock position depending whether it was a left hand circuit. At the end of 45 seconds the pilot will turn into Base Leg. the speed for a jet is normally 170 knots with flaps 5 selected. The downwind leg is normally flown at 1000 ft.
If the weather was bad then an instrument approach procedures come into play. If it was a major airport Air Traffic Control at busy times will radar vector aircraft onto final approach. These instrument approach procedures would be unheard of at Heathrow as it is always busy. They may apply at slack times at Regional Airports. They would be used if the pilot had a radio failure as the pilot would stick to it. ATC would then clear other aircraft out of the way.
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