Merry Christmas! This month, and next, I'm going to stay on the subject of keeping out of the other guy's way.

At the close of last month's column, I had gotten around to the general observation that mid-airs are most likely to occur close to airports, where logic suggests you can expect the greatest concentration of aircraft. With only one exception, every incident in which I have found myself too close for comfort has occurred in the traffic pattern–ironically, always at towered fields–and painfully, I have developed some procedures to prevent recurrence.

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In my opinion, it is clearly the responsibility of the arriving pilot to locate and sequence with planes already flying in or departing the traffic pattern: the arriving pilot has less workload and more flexibility of alternate routes. While this observation is definitely not intended to encourage less vigilance by those already in the pattern, it is, I think, an accurate identification of the pilot with the best chance of seeing and avoiding.

The safest and easiest way to approach an airport in visual conditions is to make a 45 degree entry to the downwind. The procedure has two advantages: it gives you a long interval to scan and search for traffic, and done correctly should never put you head-on with other planes. Every other alternative is worse. As an example, if you've ever been surprised as you got ready to turn final by some fool making a long straight-in, you already know how dumb that one is. The 45 isn't foolproof, however, and there are better and worse ways to do it.

One suggestion is to fly the 45 leveled off at pattern altitude, rather than in a descent. The logic to this is that other airplanes are easiest to see when you and they are at the same altitude. If you are coming in five or six hundred feet above pattern altitude and letting down, you are in the position of having to look down for all the other traffic, and this can make other planes very difficult to see: they tend to get lost against the ground clutter. This is particularly true in built-up urban areas, where white roof tops and white wings all blend in together. Of course, if your airport environment is pleasantly wooded, this observation diminishes in usefulness, and you may safely conserve a little more of your altitude as you approach the airport.

But even when you fly the 45 at pattern altitude you still need to look down for aircraft lower than you–the ones climbing up on crosswind. These can be almost impossible to see: they blend against the background and present the smallest possible profile–head-on. In order to see them, it helps to assume as you fly the 45 that they are there–just keep looking until you see someone or finally convince yourself that there really is no threat. And this level of paranoia is necessary even at towered fields–it only takes a moment of controller inattention and a slightly earlier than expected turn to the crosswind by departing traffic to put someone directly in your path climbing up toward you.

Remember, in the visual environment, controllers cannot separate traffic without lots of pilot vigilance. The only substitute for see and avoid worked out to date requires three miles lateral or 1000' vertical separation: a solution that would definitely cramp everyone's style.

More traffic pattern suggestions next month.

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