Private Pilot Tips for Traffic Patterns, Cirrus Crash, ATC Privatization, and Air Canada Near Miss Update + GA News

Published: July 20, 2017, 5:27 p.m.

We talk about flying the traffic pattern, and talk in detail about flying a Cessna 172 in the traffic pattern. For example, many people don\u2019t know the exact meaning of \u201cMake Right Traffic.\u201d It means, fly to a position where you can enter the traffic pattern on the 45, then turn to downwind and fly the traffic pattern. It doesn\u2019t mean to enter on the downwind. And of course you should be at pattern altitude when you\u2019re on the 45. We also talk about doing a forward slip in a Cessna 172 and use of flaps during crosswind landings. Air Canada flight 759 had a near miss last week, when it inadvertently lined up to land on a taxiway instead of on the runway. We talk about how confirmation bias may have contributed to the lack of awareness that the Air Canada pilots had about their situation. We also talk about a recent fatal Cirrus SR22 crash in Sonoma, California, and the importance of never pulling the parachute below 400 feet, as it will most likely make things worse! I give details about a recent flight I took from El Paso, Texas to Concord, CA with the new owner of a Cessna 206. We postponed the trip because of a heat wave 3 weeks ago. Plus listener questions about using flaps during crosswind landings and whether you can fly if you\u2019re legally using medical marijuana. Click here for the survey. Tell us which plane you fly most often. Please visit my new Patreon page and help me with my goal of funding the creation of two apps for my show, one for Apple and one for Google Play, so that non-techie pilots can find the show in the app store. You can Dictate a listener question from your phone and I\u2019ll try to answer it on a future show, or send an email. News Stories