Eddie, I do quite a bit of instructing at a airport in class G airspace, with left hand patterns for all runways. I always teach my students from day one to enter the pattern on a 45° to the downwind.FastEddieB wrote:That certainly is legal, and you’ll come to find your own way on this.joey4420 wrote: Keeping with the topic though, I flew home from KEYE (Eagle Creek outside of Indianapolis IN) to KHAO (Butler Co Regional OH) it was an 86 mile straight in approach.
But my question would be, what do you think you may have gained by not following your normal practice in the above case - that is, overflying the field first, and then entering the pattern the recommended manner?
The only justifications I can think of is to save maybe a tenth on the Hobbs, thereby saving a tiny modicum of fuel, or avoiding a certain amount of maneuvering at the end of a flight.
I also see that that KHAO lies beneath Class B. Was that a factor?
Is it one of these, or something else I’m missing?
I have noticed that when we make our first trip to a towered airport that even though they make radio calls at out airport communication is lacking, and anything other than a standard left pattern is troublesome.
I think under some circumstances that flying a straight in approach can add a level of aeronautical experience that is otherwise lacking.