Pilot's tip of the week

Rushed and Behind in the Pattern

Featuring

Subscriber question:

"What should you do if you are rushed and behind on final and aren't sure if you did all your pre-landing checks" - W Bryce

Wally:

“Rushed and behind…did I do all my checks? We’ve all been there and it is not a nice feeling. So we have made a few mistakes to get here in the first place.

rushed_behind.pngEntering the pattern fast at a strange field is a good set-up for just this situation. Still we can’t avoid all the other distractions like radio calls and other traffic can we?

But we can solve our problem. We can always go around and take a little more time to get established.

Seems to me that if the items are important enough to be put on a check list, they must be important, and if we are not sure we completed them, let’s take the time to do it right.

A go-around is a lot cheaper (and safer) than a gear-up landing or an engine failure on short final.”

(NEW) VFR Mastery scenario #84 “MOA or Marathon?” is now available. The rules say you can fly through an MOA, but conventional wisdom is you should avoid one if it’s hot, right? Sometimes that’s inconvenient or downright impossible. What then? Is ATC your ally on this—or something to avoid? Surely they wouldn’t let you wander in if it was truly dangerous, but what are the consequences? Watch the Intro video.

Get the Pilot’s Tip of the Week

Sign up here to receive tips like this every week along with videos, quizzes and more.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.