Teardrop Pattern Entry

Uncontrolled? Right base, atitapa. Clear of active.
 
OneCharlieTango said:
You misjudge me. I’m a FF fan. Also, see my subsequent post regarding the AC.

Where is it in the AIM? Searching “teardrop” in an AIM pdf yields 8 matches, all referring to hold entries.
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My apologies. It was the PHAK and AC_90-66b from 2018. And they didn’t call it a teardrop.

*edit* I didn’t see your post about the AC

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AlphaMike said:
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what if one of the 2-3 planes on downwind is a King Air? That’s the part I don’t like. 500’ above puts you right in his face.
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I'll take my chances on the one large, easy to see, professionally flown aircraft over the throng of students and weekend pilots who think a teardrop entry is new or dangerous ANY DAY.
 
Half Fast said:
I’ve found that if just yell “Allahu Akbar!” loudly over CTAF everyone will vacate the area and I can fly any pattern entry I like.
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I've noted it before but it bears repeating that using the phrase "caution wake turbulence" at the end of my radio calls tends to help clear the pattern for me ... ;)
 
aftCG said:
I'll take my chances on the one large, easy to see, professionally flown aircraft over the throng of students and weekend pilots who think a teardrop entry is new or dangerous ANY DAY.
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How do you know it’s professionally flown? Could be a couple real incompetents that are paid to fly it.
 
Teardrops make me mad

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Unit74 said:
The OH break just killed a lady at Patty Wagstaffs airport in an Extra 300 this week. Speculation is she G-locked and augered in while in the pattern.

We get ALOT of pilot mill traffic at my airport from ERAU and ATP. The tear drop is definitely being used by these large organizations.
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How do you G-lock in a break? I don't see any reason to pull a bunch of G's within 1500 ft of the ground.
 
MauleSkinner said:
How do you know it’s professionally flown? Could be a couple real incompetents that are paid to fly it.
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Fine, you win. The published FAA preferred pattern entry is super hazardous and is likely a leading factor in GA accidents
 
Unit74 said:
The OH break just killed a lady at Patty Wagstaffs airport in an Extra 300 this week. Speculation is she G-locked and augered in while in the pattern.

We get ALOT of pilot mill traffic at my airport from ERAU and ATP. The tear drop is definitely being used by these large organizations.
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If she g-locked doing an overhead she either had a medical condition or she didn't do a proper overhead break.
 
Kenny Phillips said:
I posted about an accident at St. Augustine, that could be what he's talking about. If so, not at all matching the description; smoke in the cockpit, runway overrun.
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I was talking to a pilot at the airport who said he was up flying when it happened. He said she did a overhead break and for no reason went straight in. He opined she locked up and never woke up. Is there a prelim on it somewhere? First I’m hearing of smoke.
 
Shepherd said:
Circumstances dictate how I enter the pattern.
Whatever is safer and easier for the particular landing will dictate the maneuver.
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And what's safer and easier for those of us flying Cubs and other slow airplanes can be very different from what's best for faster aircraft.
 
Hmm - on my 1st checkride attempt, the DPE complained about my 'midfield crossing' entry to pattern (at a non-towered airport), @ 500 over pattern "Good thing there's no jets coming in!", he said. (He's a jet driver in his day job.) This was part of my discontinuance.
So now, I do that at 1000 over pattern, and make sure the 270 degree turn is well outside any normal pattern, by a couple miles. Adds a few minutes to an approach, but gives me plenty of time to figure out where everybody is in the pattern.
 
I enter on pattern corners unless I'm 'straight in to a 45' or straight in final. Once I have the runway environment in sight, I'm not putting it out of my field of view. Anyone who advocates getting the environment in sight only to put it behind you, is a special kind of stupid.
 
I am surprised that none of you have mentioned that the teardrop is a planned pattern entry on Foreflight.
 
EdFred said:
I enter on pattern corners unless I'm 'straight in to a 45' or straight in final. Once I have the runway environment in sight, I'm not putting it out of my field of view. Anyone who advocates getting the environment in sight only to put it behind you, is a special kind of stupid.
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I hope you never use 'straight in to a 45' as part of a radio call. Saying "straight in" should be reserved for talking about final.
 
Witmo said:
I hope you never use 'straight in to a 45' as part of a radio call. Saying "straight in" should be reserved for talking about final.
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No, I do not. I simply say "45 to downwind [runway]" The only time I use the 45 would be, for example, when landing on 27, my heading to the airport from 20 miles out is 045º. I posted straight in for the 45 to indicate I won't maneuver to enter from the 45. If I'm further west, enter on the downwind, further east, left base.
 
Can we talk about the teardrop departure? :)
 
EdFred said:
I enter on pattern corners unless I'm 'straight in to a 45' or straight in final. Once I have the runway environment in sight, I'm not putting it out of my field of view. Anyone who advocates getting the environment in sight only to put it behind you, is a special kind of stupid.
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Why? Can't look over your shoulder at the field?
 
EdFred said:
I enter on pattern corners unless I'm 'straight in to a 45' or straight in final. Once I have the runway environment in sight, I'm not putting it out of my field of view. Anyone who advocates getting the environment in sight only to put it behind you, is a special kind of stupid.
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So when you're on upwind but staying in the pattern can you see the planes on final, base or anywhere beyond midfield downwind? Or is your back turned to them?
 
Sierra_Hotel said:
Why? Can't look over your shoulder at the field?
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Not really I don't have a rear window, and not going to see what's going on 2-4 miles out.

aftCG said:
So when you're on upwind but staying in the pattern can you see the planes on final, base or anywhere beyond midfield downwind? Or is your back turned to them?
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When I'm on upwind, I can see everything going on that will/will not cause me an issue. I can see the plane on base, and can see the plane on final (unless he's an @RDUPilot 40 miles straight in) that might do a go around. Can't say the same thing when I put the field to my back for 2-4 minutes and have to reacquire all the traffic visually. A plane 4 miles away is a lot smaller than me being on upwind, and said plane being on downwind.
 
My downwind to final turn is sort of a teardrop. It brings tears to the eyes of the pilot who was in front of me on downwind.
 
With some of the patterns I see folks do I’d have to fly 8 miles past the airport!
 
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