Overtaking by 80 knots please slow down

[moosepileit]

Unless you are comfortable with the winds, length and even the taxiing once on the ground, unable, divert or insist on a pattern position that will allow a normal final approach on/about 300'/nm.

The problem in busy airspace is tower and approach have conflicting priorities if any aircraft are in a visual pattern. They in practice own conflicting chunks of the airspace the plane in the pattern needs.

You can ask tower to tell you what piece of sky they can delay you in while the ask the approach controllers to build you a suitable gap. This may take 20 minutes at a busy field with aircraft that have been flowed in and speed controlled for their last 200 plus miles already.

There is an old adage that after 2 tries, it is a good time to divert and reset your normal habit patterns and flow.

[kevinsrv7.com]

Originally Posted by Ralph Inkster

Our field is controlled and has a lot of training traffic mixed in with everything up to private jet traffic. I think the controllers actually appreciate the RV traffic here because they are very capable following slow, or expedite, what ever is needed to make the circuit traffic work.
Sometimes I think they use us to break the bordom too. A couple times on slow days, unprompted, I have received "XXXX CLEARED FOR APPROACH EXERCISE, TURN CROSSWIND MID FIELD", OK, ah, advance the throttle, continue approach with an overshoot 2G pull up in front of the tower, rather aggressive climb, roll to crosswind (because have to keep it midfield). I don't even consider the extra fuel burnt when following instructions. Once on calling in on Downwind after this, the controller asked if I needed to repeat the exercise.

That's awesome!

[rzbill]

Originally Posted by snopercod

I think that's the key, and that's what ATC recommended when I spoke to them after another "situation". My airport is in a shallow valley with 6,000' mountains about 5 miles on either side. I have approached the airport several time when they give me a vector "for sequencing" to parallel the runway, only 7 miles abeam. This last time, I had flown for 3.6 hours and was tired and just wanted to get home. I had made a nice, smooth descent from 11,500' down to 4,000' in preparation for landing when they gave me one of those vectors directly into the tall mountains. So I had to climb back up to 6,000' to clear the peaks (by 500'), and got the **** beat out of me by the moderate turbulence up there. If my engine had quit, I would have been screwed, and it all seemed so unnecessary.

Just reread this whole thread.
Same type of thing happens to me at AVL. On a few occations I have told them unable immediately but can comply when closer to field (past the mountains and into the flat valley).

The tower trainees get overwhelmed every once in a while and can turn your short $100 hamburger hop into a legal cross county On the whole, the controllers a good folks. I think I have met all of them and have a friendly conversational relationship with most.
(Repeated crack of dawn Monday flights will do that)

Since the thread was about pattern speed.....

I was commuting home one Friday. Listening to AVL approach before calling in and I hear what I think are a couple of IFR training flights in abysmally slow trainers outbound to the IAFs. So I make contact at about 20 miles (radio xmit limit due to terrain). RV is at warp 7 in high speed cruise decent with the intent of trying to get to the field before the trainees are cleared.
At about 4 miles while approaching a perfect base, they say "turn to 90 deg right for spacing". My response was "GAH!" They immediately came back and said if I keep it a 1/2 mile final I was cleared to land. Did it.

While this turned out in my favor, I well know that it was unprofessional on my part and I'm not proud of it. I was not intending to imply "unable". It was a knee jerk due to losing my gambit. The work with AVL ATC has been two way and a good relationship. I always try to stay alert and sometimes offer actions early (to benefit both) that they frequently accept and thank me for afterwards.

[flightlogic]

One of my students ended up in the side of an apartment building in New York City. You may have read about him, since he had a New York Yankee with him. Theory is, they tried to keep a controller happy. It cost them... and surviving wives and children dearly.