Checkride

Pattern operations are serious business

Near midair. Near miss. Near hit. There are several ways we have heard the event termed. While it is always better than the alternative, the event itself is a shocker, whether or not it occurs during your practical test. Events become statistics, whether or not the outcome is dire. Statistics can become "conventional wisdom."

Conventional wisdom has it that most midair collisions occur during excellent visual flight rules conditions in an airport environment. Conventional wisdom also says that there is little, if any, excuse for this to be the case. Many designated pilot examiners (DPE), myself included, have experienced unwanted thrills as we performed our federal tasks. Most applicants have been quick to accept responsibility for their unrefined visual scanning skills, while others have vehemently demanded another chance, insisting that the other aircraft "came at them from out of nowhere!" That second scenario goes nowhere fast with most DPEs.

A portion of good collision avoidance skills, demonstrated in part by good visual scanning, goes beyond simple efficiency in looking outside one's aircraft. Probably the first issue to be settled is the fact that, no matter how much some segments of the aviation industry decry it--and regardless how flight instructors can have us concentrate so intently upon our in-cockpit tasks--the National Airspace System is built around a concept known as "see and avoid." Federal Aviation Regulation 91.113(b) says, "When weather conditions permit, regardless of whether an operation is conducted under instrument flight rules or visual flight rules, vigilance shall be maintained by each person operating an aircraft so as to see and avoid other aircraft." The regulation is quite clear. And the Aeronautical Information Manual, which mirrors the regulation, gives pilots additional guidance in operating at and near airports.

Whether or not you trained at one, you have a strong advantage in taking your checkride at a towered airfield. Timely instructions from the air traffic controller can go far to keep you off another airplane's tail--or it off of yours. Students have for decades tried to avoid towered airports for fear of making some mistake, thinking that errors on their part would be magnified by what they felt to be overwhelming FAA scrutiny. It's understandable for some to believe this, but it is a mistaken conclusion in most cases. There are rules for traffic pattern operations both at towered and nontowered airports.

Most of us think we know what "traffic pattern" means; going around and around the flagpole. That's partly true. If you have not noticed, FAR 1.1 defines the traffic pattern: "Traffic pattern means the traffic flow that is prescribed for aircraft landing at, taxiing on, or taking off from, an airport."

Taxiing on? The FAA dissects how we operate our aircraft to the degree that we note intents such as "boarding an aircraft for the purpose of flight," or "moving under its own power for the purpose of flight," or "when all persons have departed the aircraft following the completion of a flight." Ground operations in relation to a flight are part of the flight. Decades of flight instructors have admonished us that the flight is not over until the ship is tied down.

Also, FARs 91.126 and 91.127 direct us in operating on or in the vicinity of airports in Class G or Class E airspace, respectively. Over the decades, I have heard arguments that basically indicate that the only regulation specifying pilot action in these two parts refers to direction of turns in the traffic pattern. Perhaps. Equally arguable would be the admonition in FAR 91.13 to not operate aircraft in flight or on the surface in a careless or reckless manner.

Students sometimes seem frustrated that the AIM does not simply say, "This is how to operate in the traffic pattern." Instead, the FAA's precise logic emphasizes operation by operation in separate locations. For example, AIM 4-1-9 discusses traffic advisory practices at airports without operating control towers. AIM 2-3-2 advises what airport pavement markings supplement our efficient operation on the field. We have to read Chapter 4, Section 3 to find the AIM's guidance regarding airport operations. We find solid teaching on how to use traffic patterns at all types of airports, but we have to dig for it. But aeronautical knowledge is certainly worth the effort.

Chapter 12 of FAA Handbook 8083-25, the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, is good reading either for learning the first time, or as a refresher. Just remember that the handbook is not updated on anywhere near as regular basis as the AIM; also, since it is written in editorial style, opinion that differs from the AIM or even from the FARs may slip into the text. If that does occur, the regulations and the AIM are the authoritative documents. Add to this the Practical Test Standards direction to you as an applicant as to how you should operate in the traffic pattern, including entry into the rectangular flight path that most picture when hearing the term, and you should get the idea that traffic pattern operations are serious business.

Dave Wilkerson is a designated pilot examiner, writer/photographer, and historian. He has been a certificated flight instructor since 1981 with approximately 2,000 hours of dual instruction, and is a single- and multiengine commercial-rated pilot.