Collisions in the traffic pattern

by Bob Collins, EAA Chapter 54

There's a lot to take in when entering a busy traffic pattern as more pilots flying in the East Metro of Minneapolis-St, Paul can attest.

Lake Elmo and South St. Paul, both with active flight schools, often find full patterns. And downtown St. Paul has plenty of corporate traffic.

So, the Saturday January 4, 2025 session of the Chapter 54 Saturday Open House and Wings seminar was (comparatively speaking) pretty well attended.

On the first Saturday of each month, we feature an expanded program thanks to the resurrection of the so-called "VMC Club," provided by EAA Oshkosh. It's a 4- or 5-minute "what if" video followed by a short discussion (I'd eventually like to have a CFI lead these discussions. Volunteers?), and then an expanded EAA webinar from its archives.

The "What If" video doesn't provide an answer. That's up those attending. In this month's scenario, a student pilot is heading back to home base, encountering a busy pattern, an overworked controller, and another plane in the windshield.  What would you do?

Generally, the consensus in the audience was "get out of there!" as Craig Mueller suggested. Once in that situation, there aren't many solutions. But there are a lot of options for not getting into the situation in the first place.

When the session was announced weeks ago, Dana Vannen Anderson sent some tips and a story along. She couldn't make it on Saturday because there are mags and cylinders being pulled for overhaul in the hangar. It's well worth reading:

 As a flight instructor, patterns, pattern entries, RT procedures, and other “obvious” things are a pet peeve of mine. The FAA AFM and AIM has really good information on this topic that if people read about and thought about, many of the issues seen would not happen.

 

And obvious stuff like: complete your pre-landing checklist well before entering the pattern, and final landing checklist (final check/configuration) when properly established, make sure you are at pattern altitude BEFORE you are on the 45 to the downwind (and most definitely not on the 45 or downwind), looking out the window rather than using your radio/PDF as your collision avoidance system, fly at an appropriate speed and pattern size to fit the conditions, don’t always assume ATC or Tower will keep you deconflicted (they are humans too), etc.

 

But a great topic for scenario based ADM and talking through the “what ifs”. It’s really hard to think in the air if you have not worked out some of this stuff in advance (and understand how the system was designed).

 

Of course… like every other pilot in the world, when I had a few hundred hours under my belt and a freshly minted commercial multi rating and thinking I was a VIP (Very Important Pilot), I would try to shave off a few minutes and a cup of gas and do some sort of non-standard pattern entry, and inevitably find myself in a situation I should not be in. And… rather than let my ego/pride get in the way, think “what could I have done differently?” And almost every time, the answer was “fly a standard pattern and pattern entry”.

 

Sure, there are exceptions. I was in my cub (NORDO at the time) at KOEO on a later afternoon and there was absolutely no one around. I was happily doing pattern work, and saw no one, when on downwind there was a flash of something above and suddenly I am looking at the belly of an Mooney essentially descending THROUGH me. I had zero time to react. Honestly, I cannot figure out how he missed me. I gasped and my heart skipped a beat as the Mooney bombed it’s way at high speed extending his downwind a few miles and then a long “drag it in” final and landing on the last third of the runway.

 

I was pissed. Sure, I am a NORDO Cub, but I was doing everything right and there really wasn’t anything I could have done differently otherwise. So I appropriately timed my approach and landing, and ending up taking a taxiway where I could get a clear look at the folks in the airplane. They were both oblivious to anything that was going on and were both basically looking down in the cockpit as they jabbered away being busy.

 

Now, I might even consider shutting my airplane down on the taxiway and flagging them down to let them know we all almost died that day. But I let it pass.

 

The reason it was particularly upsetting for me was that I took my private checkide at OEO about 3 days after a midair up there that involved a high wing jump plane doing a downwind takeoff, and right turn on a crosswind running into a low wing airplane instrument instruction on left base, and then hitting head on. It was a tragic loss of life, and I still remember seeing the scorched earth below me as I did my pattern stuff with the examiner. It was spooky.

All of this paired nicely with the EAA archived webinar, "Collision Avoidance in the Traffic Pattern," which you can watch here if you have an EAA account.

Tom Turner, the president of Mastery Flight Training, called on pilots to put "shields up" when entering the pattern.

Most mid-airs occur during daytime flying in VMC within 5 miles of an airport.  Eighty percent occur on final approach with most within 400 feet of the ground. "We have to be at our highest vigilance when we're on final approach," he said. "And don't assume everyone else has a radio."

He used several high-profile mid-airs to provide examples of what could have been done to prevent them.

"As you're planning to fly into an unfamiliar airport, you might want to call ahead and check on whether there might be other procedures from what you might assume." In one airport he flies into - Spruce Creek in Florida - he said a lot of people fly formation or use military procedures. "Do a little extra research so you can see whether there might be something in particular you should look for."

The vast majority of airports aren't towered. It's up to us to enter a traffic pattern safely. Usually when we discuss these things, Turner said, it ends up quickly becoming a debate over whether a particular pattern entry is "legal." Citing what the FAA considers an acceptable pattern entry, Turner identified 13 different "approved" traffic pattern entries. 

For example, you could enter a downwind pattern at a midfield 45 degree entry. Or you could enter at the numbers. Or you could just do a straight downwind entry. So, look to your right and on a 45-degree downwind, look to your left. And also to your right, depending on where your entry  is occurring. 

There's also the continuous turn on downwind-to-base. "You can argue that a downwind-to-base continuing turn lessens the chance of stalling, it also increases the chance you won't see another plane. Nevertheless, it's an approved maneuver. There's no hard and fast rule about when you turn on base," Turner said.

Equally, a straight-in approach is "legal," but pilots should announce their intentions 8 to 10 miles out. But they do not have the right of way over other aircraft. "You need to be looking out for other people, and give them the right of way when they have it, "he said.

Coincidentally, the January 2025 edition of EAA's Sport Aviation magazine carried Steve Krog's monthly article in which this scenario was vividly recalled with a student about to turn base, continued, even though a pilot 8 miles out had indicated they were making a straight-in approach. The student got chewed out by the straight-in pilot. "Was I wrong?" the student asked Krog?

"Yes, you may be right," Krog said of the question of right-of-way, "but we may be dead as well." He said he usually cedes the space to the straight-in pilot, and practices a "pancake approach" to the downwind leg. When following a plane that may be extending a downwind or flying a longer or wider pattern, he throttles back to a "slow flight" configuration.  He says most likely the plane making a straight-in approach is bigger and faster.

Turner said he sees a lot of conflict at non-towered airports from business aircraft flying a straight-in approach in VMC conditions while on an IFR clearance. "They do not have the right of way," he said, acknowledging he's had to break off from time to time.

Of course, we're all required to see and avoid, and cede the right of way to the right. "Let's assume you're making a 45-degree downwind entry and another pilot is making a long, downwind entry. As they approach the airport, the pilot making the straight downwind entry will look ahead and to the right and see one of these planes coming in on the 45. The pilot on the straight-in has to cede the right of way to the pilot coming in on the 45."

Turner indicated conventional wisdom indicates someone ahead of you in the pattern has the right of way, "but that isn't always the case."

Here's  one we see at Fleming Field all the time. You're on downwind for Runway 36 when the CAF B-25 or just a bunch of RVers who always wanted to be fighter pilots announce an "overhead break" in which an aircraft enters the pattern straight in at pattern altitude, flies over the runway, and then breaks left to join a downwind entry. For a moment, the  overhead-break plane and the plane on downwind are heading for each other. Rules say both pilots should turn to the right to avoid the collision.

Here are Turner's mitigation strategies:

 1. Clear Yourself for Takeoff - "I will say it out loud. 'The final approach is clear, the runway is clear, I'm clear for takeoff.'  I'm going to look left; I'm going to look right; I'm going to clear myself before I taxi onto that runway." Do not enter the runway at a non-towered airport until you're ready to go.

2. Clear Yourself as You Climb - You can make a 5-degree turn to the left... then make a 10-degree turn to the right.

3. Look Ahead, Around, and Down - We tend to fixate on the runway. But consciously make the effort to look ahead of you and farther out. As you begin your downwind-to-base turn, don't be looking down at the runway. You've already made your determination where you need to turn. "I say them out loud: 'the approach is clear, the backwards base is clear, the runway is clear,' and I say out loud 'I'm cleared to land.' It's me telling myself there isn't anyone between me and the runway and I make that call-out as I begin the approach leg," said Turner.

4. Lights on - Even in daylight, do everything you can to make yourself visible.

5. Announce yourself  -  Turner pointed out one of my biggest peeves. Pilots announcing their positioned based on some IFR fix. I wrote about this on my blog. Yes, it's impressive you got your IFR rating. No, it's not the time to impress me.

6. Expect aircraft you don't hear - They may be on another frequency, in the case of IFR flights

7. Fly predictably where other pilots know to look for you - For example, don't fly a straight-in unless you have to. And when departing, watch for people doing a crosswind entry or  extended downwinds.

8. Look everywhere for others - Not everyone follows the rules.

9. Use traffic technology to tell you where to look outside

10. Don't expect all traffic to show up on your screen. A lot of systems don't show planes very close to you.

11. Know and follow the rules for right-of-way

12. Don't expect everyone to follow the rules 

"Put your shields up," he concluded.

Tom Turner from the American Bonanza Society can be found at thomaspturner.com where he publishes the Weekly Flying Lessons.