Traffic pattern entry for slow aircraft.

[Larry Perkin]

I fly at a non-towered airport with a variety of aircraft types including bizjets, jump planes and helicopters. FAA Advisory Circular 90-66B is a good resource for non-towered airport operations. While I fly a “fast” trike and can almost match pattern speeds with a Skyhawk, I am still slow in comparison. I am not an instructor but will offer a few strategies that seem to work for me.

Situational awareness is key, i.e. see and avoid, radio communications and ads-b traffic. Know your destination airport, get the AWOS from 10-15 miles out. Get on the CTAF, make sure its the right frequency and start listening to the traffic. You now have about 10-15 minutes to form that 3D picture in your head. Then flying (and surviving) becomes a problem of geometry and time. Am I going to arrive at a checkpoint at the same time as another aircraft? No points for being first, I can delay.

I communicate – bigly! I identify my aircraft early. I don’t say “Revo N# …”, nobody except trike pilots know what type of aircraft that is. I don’t think “Experimental N# …” cuts it either, that could be anything fast or slow. I use “Light Sport Trike N#” or “Red Trike N#”. Light Sport provides a clue that you are a slower aircraft, I think most pilots associate Trike with Ultralight as being a slower aircraft-(exasperated sigh) fine. I will make “progress” reports, e.g. “four thousand, descending, 15/10/5/3/1 miles from Cement plant, inbound” and position reports, e.g. “entering left downwind, downwind abeam, abeam the numbers”. I am proactive letting other aircraft know where I am.

For traffic pattern entries, we’ve all been trained to FAA standards, i.e. make radio calls inbound, report at VFR checkpoints, make normal traffic pattern entries, fly pattern altitude. Other pilots, being trained similarly, expect that behavior to know where to look and, in most cases, will compensate for slower aircraft. However, I will consider “short circuiting” the normal pattern if regs and safety permit and fly direct to a midfield or base leg entry. My home airport has a crosswind runway and if I can handle the crosswinds, I can fly a straight-in or change a downwind to a base leg for that crosswind runway.

In busy times, I tend to fly a tighter pattern which is slightly inside a “normal” traffic pattern and not the usual square pattern with a turn to base, then a turn to final. My home airport has a long runway so I will also consider landing anywhere between the beginning and midfield if I am number 1 for landing to expedite and make way for all the other aircraft behind me. When I commit to landing, I will roll into base and continue the turn to the point on final where I would do a normal landing-in extreme cases all the way down to the round out point.

Finally, be courteous. Larger aircraft, helicopters, bizjets and Jump Planes are burning much more fuel than me. That doesn’t give them any more priority under the regs but it doesn’t hurt to be nice. In most cases, I can extend my downwind allowing a faster aircraft to land without having to fly a final approach that would be its own cross country flight. Similarly, if I see a faster aircraft at the hold line waiting to take off, I can extend, do a 360, do s-turns so they can get out. They will remember you kindly the next time.

[Roger Larson]

Excellent you made numerous points we can all take and use.

[Larry Mednick]

Flying at different speeds in the pattern should generally be no conflict if everyone is where they should be. And what I mean by that is the faster an aircraft is going, the larger their pattern should be. I have flown all over the world and there seems to be a very consistent 5-6 minute pattern time. So a Cirrus and a Champ should be able to stay in the pattern shooting a dozen touch N goes with no interference from one another. Unfortunately every once in a while some “Yahoo” in an RV 4 is shooting T+Gs in the “Champ pattern” every 3 minutes and some Cessna 152 is setting up his 2 mile final. These aircraft not only can’t mix in with us, they can’t mix in with ANYONE ELSE in the pattern. They are a danger and inconvenience to others.

However when everyone is where they are supposed to be , then speeds within the same pattern are almost irrelevant and everyone should be in synch with good separation.

The problem I have discovered for trikes and other slow aircraft is the 45 entry. In order to do so we must cross the downwind of several faster, larger “downwind legs” to get to our “inside” down wind leg. This is not only dangerous, but impossible when there are 4+ fast aircraft in the pattern at once.

I have a solution to this, but would like to hear others thoughts.

[Mark Taylor]

We had a little sit down at my airport years ago. And the consensus was for the slow flying aircraft (me) to do a mid field crossover, enter downwind (close to the runway) , and do a base and final. I callout on the radio after entering downwind that I’m doing a base AND final. What I actually perform is a descending 180, land and get off the runway. It seems to make them happy…

[Larry Mednick]

Good point! On windier days slower aircraft need to watch their time/distance on final. Assuming you are landing into the wind the difference in ground speed starts to change ratio with faster aircraft. Example: no wind 50MPH trike is 1/2 the ground speed of a 100MPH plane. Add 25 mph head wind and now the plane is 3X faster instead of only double the ground speed (25 vs. 75). So the length of our final when there is a strong head wind really needs to be shortened even more, so we don’t get run over on final by the plane behind us.

[BLAIR DYCK]

This is a very good topic, and i hope a lot of ideas/solutions are adressed. I am also at a non tower airport, i fly a 17meter wing at 42knots, and i am always worried about getting runover. We have a wide variety of aircraft here, lots of cropdusters, twins, and some military. I am always on the radio, and most pilots are good, but some are upset when you announce you are entering the zone at 5miles “strait in to runway 22” and you land 6 or 7 minutes later.

I hope a lot of trikers chime in with some tips….

[Larry Mednick]

Blair, I would avoid a straight in especially at your airspeed in all cases. Trikes on long final is probably the biggest danger. At least on downwind we are all (supposed to be) at the same altitude so we can see each other. On final trikes tend to be much higher and the other pilots are probably not looking up for traffic as we descend onto them. But more importantly Traffic really need to turn base where they need to turn base or they become the menace in the pattern for whoever is following them. So if a long final stops them from being able to do so, that is a problem by itself.

[Roger Larson]

The airport i fly at mostly is KBXK. A non towered airport. Generally the winds there are in the 10 knot direct crosswind plus or minus range. This airport has numerous student training touch and Goes coming from other airports. Sometimes the language of some of the other pilots (from other countries) is not that understandable. Both by the normally non english speaking pilot and the english speaking pilot. In other words, the person that normally doesn’t speak english coming in says something on the radio and he doesn’t necessarily fully understand what he is saying and does not understand what others are doing. We end up with pilots that come into the pattern like nobody else is there. We also get very fast aircraft coming in at all speeds. Cirrus aircraft lately are our most common. xxxxxxxx. That being said, i would say if you are coming into our airport, especially in a slow trike, you might not live very long unless you have a good plan on how to deal with this kind of thing. So the only way for sure to not get hit is to take it upon yourself to not get hit. Being where nobody can hit you. So far this discussion is doing great. A 45 entry is the most dangerous in my opinion for the very reason your crossing all the aircraft at various speeds, distances and altitudes. I do the cross over midfield technique that was mentioned here and that is very safe for me at some other airports i fly to. However I can not do that at KBXK because the skydiving jump school is very active. So they have no flyover and no flying East of the field requirements. Please keep your comments coming on this topic. We are all going to find strong opinions on this topic exist. What some feel is unsafe, others will feel is safe. Understanding what others think about this topic is valuable information to us all.

[Larry Mednick]

Yes, so a midfield cross over may not be ideal either if you are approaching from the traffic pattern side either. I like to stay at 1500 AGL (mind you jets fly the pattern at 1500’) and use a teardrop entry. The same recommended entry the FAA describes for if you are crossing midfield. But in this case I come in from 180 off or roughly any direction I like above the pattern to that point. Not only do I avoid crossing multiple fast down wind legs, but I can circle (example: “trike is circling at 1,500 just north of the field”) and while circling I can decide WHEN the tear drop is most desirable. Once I enter my tight downwind at pattern altitude, no one should be able to catch me unless that are not where they should be regardless of their speed. We are all doing 5-6 minute patterns.

The only thing that becomes tricky is turning both crosswind and base while aiming at another aircraft initially. The key when I turn base , for example is to say “turning base behind the Cirrus” even though he is on a mile final and I am turning a 1/4 mile base. You simple need 500’ spacing at all times and good 2 way communication. Plus I am 500 feet above his 1/4 Mile short final if we both arrive by accident to the 1/4 mile final at the same time. Then he is landed and off the runway or touch N go before my wheels are down. I can chase the fastest planes around the pattern with ease…

[jeff thomas]

I fly an Airborne Outback at a small, not busy, non towered airport in very rural North Central PA. I’m the only trike -It’s a tricky airport built in the early 30s right on the edge of a 1,000 foot gorge with runways positioned the opposite direction to the prevailing winds, but it’s a beautiful spot with fields for miles and miles and then forests stretching out beyond that and I love it there. We have a couple ultralights (without radios) but they only fly when the weather is perfect. Which is mostly never. Each one of these guys built their planes and taught themselves to fly as the airport didn’t have an instructor for a long time. When I arrived last year three men on the airport authority came out to greet me (suspiciously) to let me know I should consider getting a plane “that’s nothing more than a kite!” and then asked me to fly the pattern at 500 ft AGL and 500 feet out. “a gunfighter pattern” is how one of them put it. There’s a grass strip and a paved strip so if there are planes in the pattern I almost always land in the grass just to get out of the way…We have a couple bi-planes and they do the same. Nobody at all flying early in the morning, I always have the place entirely to myself. But as the day gets on there are a handful of farmers that might fly in from their private strips and they never use their radios. They just show up. The occasional crop dusters and helicopters come in out of the blue as well as does the fella in the Mustang P51, but you can hear him from miles away. So I make sure my eyes are peeled and I’m on the radio announcing “yellow light sport trike” and I most often cross mid field in case someone on the ground looks up. Most pilots do use the radio, though to be honest the majority of those guys just announce they’re coming straight in. I guess it varies, but after a year most pilots know me and when I’m out flying but I do tend to do a decent amount of letting pilots know that I’m flying the pattern at 500 ft both on the radio and in person when I see pilots at the airport that I don’t know.

[Gino Pasiano]

Hey Jeff. I too am the only Airborne Trike Pilot or Trike pilot at all at the airport I am at now as well as the one I came from. I got a chuckle out of the reaction you got from the three gents that greeted you. I too got the “so your the one that fly’s that kite…” And in the back of my mind I am like, I’d like to so you try and fly my Kite… HA! Be safe

[Steve Wells]

I probably fly out of one of the busier airports for the average Trike pilot. Maybe some of the things I have to do to operate here will offer some ideas.

I fly out of KFHU which is a joint military / civilian airfield with three runways. We have >120,000 operations a year. I don’t even want to do the math…

During the week it is a Class D serviced by a full approach control radar and 3/4 surrounded by an active restricted area. Three satellite airfields all within a few miles are also controlled by the tower and have Shadow UAS and other manned and unmanned systems flying from them. During the weekends tower is usually closed so it’s class G and the restricted areas are inactive. Often a TFR over the field when the tower is closed for UAS operations by Customs and Border Protection.

During the week when I fly I am mixing with non-stop training patterns of F-16, A-10, UC-35, RC-12, C-130, Predator UAS, Reaper UAS, Grey Eagle UAS and helicopters. Then add an Ameriflight EMB-120, PHI HEMS helicopter, the fire fighting VLATs (DC-10s), Skycranes, Chinooks and Hueys with bambi buckets, and about 35 of us GA birds hangered on our side of the airfield.

Patterns in a trike are still absolutely not a problem.

For take-offs when Tower is open, I will always ask for a low level departure in whatever direction I’m headed, or one of the low level helicopter transitions to just stay out of the patterns all together. ATC prefers me to act like a helicopter at my slow speeds and just stay clear anyway. They always happily approve a LL departure. I’ll stay below 200′ until out of their airspace. When tower is closed and I’m not doing pattern work, I will do the same by just announcing on CTAF. Yes, an engine out at 50-200′ sucks…but the odds of an engine out versus mixing aircraft parts or flying in heavy aircraft vortices makes it a win. I just set the cruise throttle, try not to make power adjustments until I climb out, and enjoy the flight.

For landing events: During the week, Approach will either clear me thru, vector me thru, or have me divert to the Class D corridor that tunnels thru the restricted areas. Once handed off to tower, I’m either vectored in sequence to some point of the pattern, or just cleared to enter downwind with aircraft advisories. If it’s busy and winds permit, I’ll offer to LAHSO on one of the other runways to facilitate traffic on my initial call to tower. They are about 50/50 on giving me an alternate runway depending on type of training aircraft in the pattern (greater separation may be required) or regular operational flights.

If I don’t get cleared for a LAHSO, and I’m instead cleared to enter downwind for the crazy busy active runway, there are three pattern altitudes depending on aircraft type. I will use the helo/ultralight pattern (500’AGL) which allows me to fly 500′ or more under the other wider and higher patterns at 1000′ and 1500′ to get to that tight-in 5 minute or less pattern for an 80KT aircraft (see Larry’s explanation). I’m usually cleared to land behind one or two aircraft ahead of me so I adjust my airspeed as best as possible on downwind to sequence my base leg with the shortest possible final (preferred when I’m down to 50KTS) or a 3 minute 80KT final if I’m worried about wake turbulence.

When tower is closed, there is generally very little military traffic. The EMB-120, helicopters and Predator UAS from CBP, the PHI HEMS bird, fire fighting tankers during fire season, and all us GA guys. It can get busy on occasion, but generally I’ll only encounter 1 or 2 other aircraft in the pattern.

For a simple inbound to full stop I’ll just make announcement on CTAF like normal, but I’ll typically fly the 1000′ pattern because it’s where other aircraft expect to find/see me to sequence (versus the positive control from tower when it’s open.) If it’s busy with training traffic from the local CFI’s and the nearby aviation college and they are flying huge 747 patterns with long finals… I may come in low level and pop up into my tighter 500′ pattern on Base or Final to my chosen runway. If I’m doing pattern work, I’ll chat the other pilots up in the pattern, use the same runways as them, and let them know I’ll be lower and tighter for sequencing. That way they know where to look for me and the trainees don’t have an aneurism trying to visualize two different runway patterns over the airfield.