More pattern police nonsense.

[gismo]

Coming into Venice FL (KVNC) today I heard a few planes using runway 22 (which is the "preferred no wind runway") and was planning on a left base entry for that runway but the ASOS indicated the winds had switched from something like 250@7 to more like 290-300 at 9-10. By the time I got closer the traffic had died down so I announced my intention to land on 31 and maneuvered to make a straight in to that runway. When I was on a mile final a Cessna announced a departure from 22 (which intersects 31 midfield). I announced my short final again and the Cessna said they'd wait until I crossed 22 before taking off so all was working well. Turning off 31 onto a taxiway I announced clear of 31 and a Mooney that apparently had been waiting behind the Cessna for takeoff piped up with "The active runway is 24" prompting me to quip back "There's no such thing as an active runway at an uncontrolled field." Meanwhile a King Air announced he was landing on 31 which prompted another announcement about the "active" runway from the Mooney followed by "Mooney xxx taking the active runway". I bit my tongue to avoid transmitting "Where are you taking it" and "Please return it when you're finished with it".

 

[Jim Logajan]

The airport I fly at is in Class G, so of course all the following are true there:

Flying NORDO is legal and acceptable.
Flying without a transponder is legal and acceptable.
Flying straight in is legal and acceptable.
Doing touch and goes as desired is legal and acceptable.

So one day early in my training while flying downwind and getting ready to turn base, my instructor alerted me "Traffic coming straight in." I obviously was not yet good at scanning. The Zaon MRX PCAS on the dash was silent. No calls from the other plane on the radio. It was a biplane - likely no electrical system, so no radio (not even a handheld) and no mode C transponder (or likely any transponder.) Made for a quick lesson in how to extend downwind after having set things up. The NORDO, transponderless, straight-in biplane with no doubt limited visibility above and below did a touch and go and immediately departed the area. Guess they didn't need to land there at all - which I guess is why they felt it was so important to waste as little time as possible doing a standard pattern approach.

Later, I read a nice AOPA safety guide that said that among those who would benefit the most from a standard pattern approach are NORDO airplanes. Obviously not widely read where it would help.