5 Tips For You

Five Tips For Doing Circuits
Every student spends time in the circuit. PSTAR The circuit is an agreed upon routine that fliers use in order to preserve traffic separation and simplify the lives of air traffic controllers more convenient. Everybody does the circuit at each airport the same way, so all the fliers know where everyone ought to be.

There are guidelines and protocols that are pretty standardised. Normally the circuit is a left hand one, meaning the pilots turn left from one leg to the other, but now and then they are right hand circuits.

The circuit contains five parts: the take off leg, the crosswind leg, the downwind leg, the base leg and the final leg. Sometimes the last two legs are called the approach legs.

The take off leg begins on the runway and lasts until the turn out, which is commonly at 500 feet AGL. A left turn delivers you to the crosswind leg. With some aircraft, like a 170, you climb to one thousand feet above ground level through the crosswind. With others, like a 150, that doesn`t ascend as well, you could possibly begin the turn at 800 feet above ground level. Bush pilot Whatever the case, circuit height is commonly 1000 feet AGL, and you`d want to arrive at circuit height when you`re ready to turn into the downwind. If you turn at eight hundred feet above ground level you naturally will be required to perform a climbing turn.

The downwind acquires its name because we land into the wind. An alternative way of saying into the wind is upwind. The opposite of upwind (which is the way you`re flying) is downwind, hence the name.

The downwind is the leg during which you do your pre-landing checks and make the call to the tower for the clearance. After you`ve made the turn from crosswind to downwind check your spacing from the strip, ensure you`re parallel with it, establish yourself in straight and level flight, and then promptly get on the checks. The sooner you perform this the more time you`ll have to make your call for your clearance and startbush pilot training looking for traffic. That`s tip number 1. Get into straight and level quickly, verify your position and perform your checks. Be speedy, but be consistent every time.

After you`ve received clearance from ATC you can begin getting ready for your turn to base. The point to turn is when the end of the runway is at a forty five degree angle from a point in the center of the rear wing root and the stabilizer.

You have to slow down to go down, meaning you need to get to your approach speed and attitude as early as possible. To complete this you should try to complete the whole thing precisely the same way each time. You have a bit of latitude in the order, but ordinarily you`ll back off the power first. Pick a set RPM and pin the needle right on it. If you make it into the white arc that allows you to apply flaps you can either apply them in stages or set them at 20 degrees right off the bat. The critical point is to be consistent every time.

If you don't get into in the white arc you can still set up your turn. This will bleed off energy and gets you into the white arc. At this point you can apply your flaps. Again, apply them in stages, or apply them all at once, but be consistent. That`s tip 2 - consistency.

If you haven`t turned yet, do so now(assuming you`ve made your calls, received the clearance and are ok with traffic).

When you scale back power the nose will drop and you`ll have to pull back on the yoke to maintain the desirable attitude. When you apply your flaps the nose will rise, and you`ll have to re-adjust. Trim the aircraft each time. Trimming makes it easier to fly and will allow you to concentrate on other things, like rate of descent. You would like to be descending at four hundred to five hundred FPM. Tip 3 is to confirm your target RPM, your approach speed, and your rate of descent. Get them set up at the earliest opportunity during the base leg.

A good approach makes for good landings. Proper approach speed, power setting and rate of descent should put you on an effective approach, and if you do everything consistently you`ll have consistently better chances of setting up the right approach. At this point on the base leg you need to look at the airstrip to consider when you want to turn to final. Consistency kicks in here once more: I like to set up the turn when the landing strip has passed the pitot tube and is almost at the strut. You can easily opt for a different time, but be consistent. If the end of your turn puts you in line with the runway you`re doing it correctly.

All that`s left is to stick on the glide path all the way down and then land. If you`ve done everything correctly and consistently you should have no problem.

The only problem with this is that temperature, wind and loading conditions differ every time we take wing. Being consistent with your inputs from flight to flight won`t put you at the same point on the strip all the time because your inputs are only part of the equation. You have to compensate for ambient conditions.
bush pilot training And here is tip #4: if you`ve been consistent with all your inputs you`ve set up a consistent target. You can now adjust intelligently for wind, temperature or loading so you can stick on the optimum glide path. In fact, you will almost always have to make adjustments. The tip is that you must be aware that you are adjusting from a benchmark that you established in the first place, not just guessing what you ought to do based on how things look.

The last tip is pretty uncomplicated, but it took me quite some time to notice it and start practicing it. You fly circuits to practice, and we do it repetitively. It stands to reason that if you`ve performed everything consistently and you`re high on your first approach you can fix it on the next attempt by lengthening the downwind leg somewhat, or reducing the power more. And that`s the fifth tip: if the last approach wasn`t excellent, make the sensible adjustments to correct it on the subsequent one. Remember, you're the PIC.