Traffic Patterns

The tolerances in the flight instructor ACS are the same ones your student will be held to:

• Traffic pattern altitude ±100 feet
• Appropriate airspeed ±10 knots

But the skill items are written for an instructor: "the applicant demonstrates and simultaneously explains how to." You fly the pattern and narrate it. Alongside the numbers you must also:

• Correct for wind drift to maintain the proper ground track (S3)
• Maintain orientation with the runway or landing area (S4)
• Maintain situational awareness and proper spacing from other aircraft (S6)
• Analyze and correct common errors (S7)

The area note also applies: the evaluator must select at least one Task from Area VI. With two Tasks in the area, expect this one or Task A — prepare both.

From AFH ch. 8:

1. Traffic pattern altitude is usually 1,000 feet above the airport surface elevation. A common altitude at a given airport is the key factor in minimizing collision risk at airports without operating control towers.
2. Departure leg — climb straight ahead from the point the airplane leaves the ground.
3. Crosswind — turn beyond the departure end of the runway and within 300 feet of pattern altitude. If the takeoff was into the wind, head slightly into the wind to hold a ground track perpendicular to the runway centerline extension.
4. Downwind — flown 1/2 to 1 mile out, at TPA. Complete all before-landing checks and extend the gear here. Hold pattern altitude until at least abeam the approach end, then reduce power and begin the descent.
5. Base — turn at approximately 45 degrees past the approach end. Ground track is perpendicular to the extended centerline, though the longitudinal axis may not be, if crabbing.
6. Final — the leg needing the most judgment and precision.
7. Upwind — a course flown parallel to the landing runway in the same direction as landing traffic. It is flown at controlled airports and after go-arounds: it is the leg where the pilot transitions from final approach to climb altitude on a go-around, then makes a shallow-bank turn to the upwind side of the airport so departing traffic can see the runway. Do not let a student conflate it with the departure leg.
8. Departing the pattern — straight out, or a 45-degree turn in the direction of the pattern turns (left in a left pattern, right in a right pattern), beyond the departure end of the runway and after reaching pattern altitude.

Teach students not to descend too much on downwind with a tailwind, so there is altitude left for the base descent.

Nontowered patterns are always entered at pattern altitude. The preferred method from the downwind side is to approach on a course 45 degrees to the downwind leg and join the pattern at midfield, headed toward a point abeam the midpoint of the landing runway (AFH ch. 8).

Teach four rules with it:

• Know the appropriate pattern altitude before entering and remain clear of the traffic flow until established on the entry leg.
• Make the entry leg long enough to give a clear view of the whole pattern and time to plan.
• Entries into traffic patterns while descending create specific collision hazards and should be avoided.
• Before joining downwind, adjust course or speed to fit the traffic.

The "why" your student will ask, answered by AFH ch. 8: if the pattern will not accept you because of conflicting traffic, the airplane on a 45 can continue to turn away from the downwind, fly a safe distance away, and return for another attempt — all while scanning for traffic. A midfield crosswind entry has no such escape.

Preferred method (AFH ch. 8): announce intentions and cross over midfield at least 500 feet above pattern altitude — normally 1,500 feet AGL. If large or turbine aircraft operate at that airport, remain at 2,000 feet AGL so as not to conflict with their pattern. When well clear of the pattern — approximately 2 miles — scan carefully for traffic, descend to pattern altitude, then turn to enter at 45 degrees to the downwind at midfield.

Alternate method: enter on a midfield crosswind at pattern altitude, scan carefully, announce intentions, then turn downwind. This technique should not be used if the pattern is busy.

Either way: announce intentions, scan outside, and give way to aircraft on the preferred 45-degree entry and to aircraft already established on downwind.

Common student error: starting the descent to TPA before being clear of the pattern, putting the airplane into the downwind altitude band while still over the field.

It is a regulation, but teach the student to find the right regulation for the airspace they are actually in — 91.126 by its own terms covers only Class G.

• Class G, no operating tower — each pilot of a powered fixed-wing aircraft must make all turns to the left unless the airport displays approved light signals or visual markings indicating turns to the right, in which case the pilot must make all turns to the right (91.126(b)(1)). Each pilot of any other powered aircraft must avoid the flow of that traffic (91.126(b)(2)).
• Class E surface area — each person operating on or in the vicinity of that airport must comply with the requirements of 91.126 (91.127(a)), unless otherwise authorized or required by the ATC facility having jurisdiction. So the left-turn rule follows you into Class E.
• Class D — 91.129(a) requires compliance with 91.126 and 91.127, and 91.129(f) says that except on a circling approach or unless otherwise required by ATC, each pilot must circle the airport to the left if operating an airplane, or avoid the flow of fixed-wing aircraft if operating a helicopter.

The through-line for the student: it is left turns everywhere unless the airport says otherwise or ATC says otherwise.

On the ground, the information comes from the segmented circle. AFH ch. 8: many airports have L-shaped traffic pattern indicators displayed with a segmented circle adjacent to the runway — the short member of the L shows the direction in which pattern turns are made when using the runway parallel to the long member. Check the indicators from a distance or an altitude well above the pattern, in case other aircraft are in it.

Teach the preflight version too: the Chart Supplement carries the airport's pattern information, and AFH ch. 8 sends pilots there before the flight.

Straight from 91.113:

• General (b) — when weather permits, and regardless of whether the operation is IFR or VFR, vigilance shall be maintained by each person so as to see and avoid other aircraft. When a rule gives another aircraft the right-of-way, give way and do not pass over, under, or ahead of it unless well clear.
• In distress (c) — an aircraft in distress has the right-of-way over all other air traffic.
• Converging (d) — same category and approximately the same altitude: the aircraft to the other's right has it. Different categories: balloon over any other category; glider over powered aircraft; airship over all other powered aircraft except one towing or refueling; an aircraft towing or refueling over all other powered aircraft.
• Head-on (e) — each pilot alters course to the right.
• Overtaking (f) — the aircraft being overtaken has the right-of-way; the overtaking aircraft alters course to the right to pass well clear.
• Landing (g) — aircraft on final approach to land or while landing have the right-of-way over other aircraft in flight or on the surface. Two exceptions, and students only ever learn the second:
  • They shall not take advantage of this rule to force an aircraft off the runway surface which has already landed and is attempting to make way for an aircraft on final.
  • When two or more are approaching to land, the aircraft at the lower altitude has it — but shall not take advantage of that rule to cut in front of another on final approach, or to overtake it.

Teach 91.113(g) as a duty rather than a privilege — and teach the first exception hardest, because it is the one that reads as an outright restriction on the aircraft the rule supposedly favors. The student who "has the right-of-way" and flies into a conflict has misread the rule.

This is the accident chain the ACS is really asking about, and AFH ch. 5 lays it out step by step.

Setup. There is an unrecognized tailwind component and higher groundspeed on the base leg, which causes the pilot to turn late or with inadequate bank. The airplane overshoots the runway centerline.

The correction that kills. The pilot tries to fix it by increasing bank, increasing back elevator pressure, and applying excess rudder in the direction of the turn — inside, or bottom, rudder — to drag the nose around to the runway.

What that does. The difference in lift between the inside and outside wing increases, producing an unwanted increase in bank angle. At the same time, the nose slices downward through the horizon. The natural reaction is to pull back, driving AOA toward critical.

The result. A cross-control stall occurs when critical AOA is exceeded with aileron in one direction and rudder in the other. It can occur with very little warning and can be deadly close to the ground: the nose may pitch down, the bank angle may suddenly change, and the airplane may continue rolling to inverted — usually the beginning of a spin.

Three hard rules, all from AFH ch. 5 and 8:

1. The safest action for an overshoot is to perform a go-around.
2. At the relatively low altitude of a base-to-final turn, a pilot should be reluctant to use bank angles greater than 30 degrees.
3. Do not make a skidding turn when correcting for an overshoot.

AFH ch. 8 adds the traffic version of the same trap: a pilot trying to overtake another aircraft might be tempted to make an overly steep turn to final, and if rushing the turn to increase distance from another aircraft, there is good reason to abandon the approach and go around. Before turning final, ensure there is no close proximity to another aircraft already established on final; if the turn to final would create a collision hazard, a go-around or avoidance maneuver is in order.

Teach the recovery too, in the correct order: reduce AOA until the stall warning is eliminated, then roll wings level using ailerons, and coordinate with rudder before the airplane enters a spiral or spin (AFH ch. 5).

Practically: give the student a pre-briefed, no-questions-asked go-around trigger — overshoot the centerline, or need more than a normal bank, and the approach is over.

Per the NTSB, the most probable cause of midair collisions is the pilot failing to see and avoid other aircraft. From AFH ch. 8:

• 56 percent occur in the afternoon, 32 percent in the morning, and 2 percent at night, dusk, or dawn.
• Most occur under good visibility.
• A midair is most likely between two aircraft going in the same direction.
• The majority of pilots involved were not on a flight plan.
• Nearly all accidents occur at or near uncontrolled airports and at altitudes below 1,000 feet.
• Pilots of all experience levels can be involved.

Scanning technique to teach: check the blind spots caused by fixed structures such as doorposts and wings. High-wing airplanes have restricted visibility above, low-wing airplanes have limited visibility below, and the worst case is a low-wing flying above a high-wing. Bank from time to time to uncover blind spots, and occasionally look to the rear.

AFH ch. 8's procedural list is worth handing a pre-solo student verbatim:

1. Tune and verify frequencies before entering the area.
2. Monitor the correct CTAF.
3. Report position 10 miles out.
4. Report entering downwind and each turn at a nontowered field.
5. Descend to TPA before entering.
6. Maintain a constant scan.
7. Use exterior lights.
8. Be aware there may be aircraft in the pattern without radios — the item to press hardest.

A student who builds the traffic picture entirely from the radio has learned the wrong lesson.

Speeds. Aircraft speeds are restrained by 91.117. In the pattern at most airports with an operating control tower, aircraft typically fly no greater than 200 knots (230 mph), and AFH ch. 8 notes that sensible practice suggests flying at or below these speeds at nontowered airports as well. Use the speeds recommended by the airplane manufacturer, which generally fall between 70 and 90 knots for typical piston single-engine airplanes.

Spacing. In any case, adjust airspeed as necessary so it is compatible with the airspeed of other aircraft in the pattern, and once fitting into the flow, adjust power on the downwind leg to avoid flying too fast or too slow (AFH ch. 8).

Teaching sequence that works: fix the configuration and power setting at a geographic point first, so airspeed becomes a by-product rather than a thing the student chases. A student varying pitch to chase airspeed while descending on downwind will lose the altitude tolerance instead.

Before arrival. AIH ch. 1 puts this in the workload-management lesson: the learner should listen to ATIS, ASOS, or AWOS if available, and then monitor the tower frequency or CTAF to get a good idea of what traffic conditions to expect. Checklists should be performed well in advance so there is time to focus on traffic and ATC instructions.

On the ground (PHAK ch. 14). At airports without an operating control tower, the segmented circle visual indicator system provides traffic pattern information. It consists of wind direction indicators, landing direction indicators, landing strip indicators, and traffic pattern indicators.

• A wind sock blows out straighter in strong winds and moves back and forth when the wind is gusting.
• Wind tees and tetrahedrons swing freely and align with the wind, but they can also be manually set to align with the runway in use, so also look at the wind sock.
• The small end of the tetrahedron points in the direction of landing, and pilots are cautioned against using it for any other purpose.
• At airports with control towers, the tetrahedron should be referenced only when the tower is not in operation — tower instructions supersede tetrahedron indications.

This is a judgment element, not a memory element, and AFH ch. 8 gives you the decision order:

1. Other aircraft first. Inbound pilots at a nontowered airport are expected to observe other aircraft already in the pattern and conform to the traffic pattern in use, entering at a point well clear of any other observed aircraft. The runway in use is whatever everyone else is using, even if it is not the one you would have picked.
2. Only if nothing is observed do you get to choose: check the traffic indicators and wind indicators on the ground to determine which runway and traffic pattern direction to use — the segmented circle, the L-shaped indicators, the wind sock. Read them from a distance or an altitude well above the pattern, in case there is traffic you have not seen yet.
3. Preflight overrides guesswork. Pattern information and restrictions such as noise abatement are published in the Chart Supplement (PHAK ch. 14), and the reg determines direction (91.126(b), 91.127(a), 91.129(f)).

Parallel runways change the pattern. PHAK ch. 14's key to pattern operations for parallels adds two rules to the single-runway version: complete the turn to final at least ¼ mile from the runway, and do not overshoot final or continue on a track that penetrates the final approach of the parallel runway.

Teaching it: make the student say the selection out loud on the way in — "wind sock favors two-seven, circle shows left traffic, two aircraft already on two-seven left downwind, so two-seven left." A student who narrates the choice is a student you can correct.

S1 is a skill item — demonstrate and simultaneously explain — so this gets taught on the taxi, not on the whiteboard alone. All from PHAK ch. 14.

Markings

• Runway designators — the whole number nearest one-tenth the magnetic azimuth of the centerline, measured clockwise from magnetic north. Parallels add L / C / R.
• Displaced threshold — a threshold located other than at the beginning of the runway. It reduces the runway available for landing, but the pavement behind it is available for takeoff in either direction and for landing from the opposite direction. A 10-foot-wide white threshold bar across the runway, white arrows along the centerline, white arrowheads just prior to the bar.
• Relocated threshold — closes a portion of the approach end and shortens the opposite-direction runway; not available for landing, available for taxi. Marked with yellow arrowheads across the width just prior to the threshold bar. Teach the color difference — white means usable pavement, yellow means closed.
• Runway holding position markings — four yellow lines, two solid and two dashed, across the full width of the taxiway. Approaching the runway you see the solid lines first; stop before them. Noncompliance can draw a pilot deviation.
• Enhanced taxiway centerline — yellow dashed lines flanking the solid centerline, extending up to 150 feet before a runway holding position marking. It exists to reduce runway incursions.

Signs — six types, and the color tells the student the job

• Mandatory instruction — red background, white inscription (runway entrance, critical area, prohibited area). The runway holding position sign is this family: an airport stop sign.
• Location — black with yellow inscription and yellow border, no arrows.
• Direction — yellow background, black inscription, identifying taxiways leading out of an intersection.
• Destination — yellow background, black inscription, with arrows.
• Information — yellow background, black inscription.
• Runway distance remaining — black background, white numbers, in thousands of feet.

Lighting — runway edge lights white (amber over the last 2,000 feet or half the runway on instrument runways, red at the end), taxiway edge lights blue, and the visual glidepath systems. Full treatment is in Task VI.A.

The one rule that has to survive the lesson: never let any part of the aircraft cross a runway holding position sign or marking without a clearance. At a nontowered field or with the tower closed, cross only when the runway is clear and nothing is on final — then with extreme caution.

The ACS names seaplane base runways in S1 and the landing area in S4, so have the contrast ready even if you instruct in landplanes. From FAA-H-8083-23:

• Nothing is guaranteed. Approaching a towered land airport, a pilot can expect a runway that is flat and free of obstructions, with wind and landing direction supplied by the tower. On water, the pilot must judge the safety and suitability of the landing area, evaluate the water surface, determine wind direction and speed, and choose a landing direction.
• Survey before you commit. Circle the intended landing area and examine it thoroughly for obstructions such as pilings or floating debris; note the direction of movement of boats and their wakes, which can put swells in the touchdown zone; note buoys marking channels, hidden dangers, and off-limits areas such as no-wake zones and swimming beaches; look for submerged weeds or snags if the water is clear.
• Traffic is not aircraft. It is rare for active runways to be used by other vehicles, but common for seaplane pilots to share the landing area with boats, ships, swimmers, jet-skis, wind-surfers, or barges as well as other seaplanes.
• Wind without a wind sock. Most established bases have one, but if not: anchored boats weathervane into the wind (watch for stern anchors), there is usually a glassy band of calm water on the upwind shore, waterfowl land and face into the wind, and wind streaks run parallel to the wind — accurate for direction, but the pilot must still determine which end is upwind.
• Plan the taxi and the go-around the way you would brief a taxi route at an unfamiliar airport — and plan a safe, conservative go-around path before the approach, watching for towers, cranes, powerlines, and masts, which are not regulated for height the way obstructions near land airports are.
• Amphibians: it is extremely important the wheels are retracted for a water landing — check the wheels visually, not just the position indicators.

Teaching angle: this is the cleanest illustration of why you teach the reason for pattern procedure and not the shape. A student who only learned "45 to the downwind at 1,000 feet" has no procedure at all on water.

The explanation phase is accomplished prior to the flight, with a discussion of lesson objectives and completion standards and a thorough preflight briefing. AIH ch. 9 requires you to:

• Present clear and pertinent objectives based on the known experience and knowledge of the learner.
• Provide details on lesson content, performance expectations, and evaluation measures.
• Convey the precise actions the learner will perform and describe the end result.
• Cover appropriate safety procedures.
• Encourage questions about any step they do not understand before leaving the phase.

For a first pattern lesson that means, concretely:

• The ground track drawn out
• The numbers: TPA, ±100 feet, 70–90 knots, abeam-the-numbers power reduction, the 45-degree base point
• The radio calls written down
• The go-around trigger
• The positive exchange of flight controls procedure, which AIH requires to be in the preflight briefing

Add the AIH ch. 9 division-of-labor rule for the first few patterns: aircraft speed and control take precedence over other actions during landings and takeoffs.

In the demonstration phase, you demonstrate the actions and may describe them simultaneously, while avoiding extraneous activity so the learner gets a clear understanding of the task. Because learners generally imitate the instructor's performance, you must demonstrate the skill exactly the way you expect them to practice it, including all safety procedures, and in the same sequence in which it was explained — if you briefed carb heat, then power, then flaps, fly it that way.

The consequence most new instructors miss: if unanticipated circumstances mean the demonstration does not closely conform to the explanation — the tower gives you an extended downwind, or you have to go around — that deviation must be immediately acknowledged and explained. Silence teaches the student that the brief was optional.

Then use the middle telling-and-doing step: learner tells — instructor does. The learner talks you around the pattern. It is the cheapest way to find out whether they understand the abeam point, and by primacy, a misunderstanding can be corrected before the learner becomes absorbed in controlling the aircraft (AIH ch. 9).

Regulation makes traffic patterns your responsibility before the student ever flies alone. Pre-solo flight training in a single-engine airplane must include, among other items, airport traffic patterns, including entry and departure procedures (61.87(d)(6)) and collision avoidance, windshear avoidance, and wake turbulence avoidance (61.87(d)(7)). Solo cross-country training adds traffic pattern procedures that include area departure, area arrival, entry into the traffic pattern, and approach (61.93(e)(5)) and use of radios for VFR navigation and two-way communication (61.93(e)(9)).

Before a student may solo, they must have received and logged flight training for those maneuvers and demonstrated satisfactory proficiency and safety, as judged by an authorized instructor (61.87(c)).

AIH ch. 9 calls pilot supervision by far the most important flight instructor responsibility: you are the only person in a position to determine a learner is ready for solo operations, and before endorsing, you should require consistent ability to perform all of the fundamental maneuvers.

The pattern is where the margin is thinnest. AIH ch. 1 illustrates it: the margin of safety is minimal during the approach and landing — at that point, an emergency or distraction could overtax pilot capabilities, causing an accident.

AIH ch. 9 tells you how to handle it:

• With potentially hazardous or difficult maneuvers, be alert and ready to take control at any time — especially during a learner's first attempt.
• "A typical test of how much control is needed often occurs during a learner's first few attempts to land an aircraft. The instructor must quickly evaluate the learner's need for help, and not hesitate to take control, if required."
• Guard the controls and be prepared to take them. When necessary, take them and calmly announce, "I have the flight controls." If you leave an anxious learner on the controls, you may not have full and effective control — anxious learners can be incredibly strong and usually exhibit reactions inappropriate to the situation.
• Learners should never be allowed to exceed the flight instructor's limits, and you should not exceed your own ability to perceive a problem, decide on a course of action, and physically react.

Balance it against the same section's caution: if the learner is progressing normally, avoid unnecessary interruptions or too much assistance.

Carefully, and with the statistics in mind. AIH ch. 9: NTSB statistics reveal that most stall/spin accidents occurred when the pilot's attention was diverted from the primary task of flying the aircraft. Sixty percent of stall/spin accidents occurred during takeoff and landing, and twenty percent were preceded by engine failure. The intentional practice of stalls and spins seldom resulted in an accident — the real danger was inadvertent stalls induced by distractions during routine flight situations.

So the training target is explicit: teach the learner to divide attention between the distracting task and maintaining control of the aircraft. AIH's sample distractions that fit the pattern include asking the learner to read the outside air temperature, reset the clock, identify a field suitable for a forced landing, or identify terrain or objects on the ground.

Know the two failure modes you are training against (AIH ch. 3):

• Fixation — becoming absorbed in one task to the exclusion of others. It is often a sign the task has not received enough practice in isolation. A student fixated on airspeed on final has not yet mastered airspeed.
• Inattention — failing to attend to an important task, often a by-product of fixation.

And interruptions: a learner interrupted mid-checklist often resumes at a later point, omitting one or more steps.

AFH ch. 9's list for normal approaches and landings, filtered to the pattern items:

1. Failure to complete the landing checklist in a timely manner.
2. Inadequate wind drift correction on the base leg.
3. An overshooting, undershooting, too steep, or too shallow turn onto final approach.
4. A skidding turn from base to final as a result of overshooting or inadequate wind drift correction.
5. Poor coordination during the turn from base to final.
6. Unstable approach.
7. Failure to adequately compensate for flap extension.
8. Poor trim technique on final approach.
9. Attempting to maintain altitude or reach the runway using elevator alone.

To correct them rather than just name them, work upstream. Items 2, 3, and 4 are one error — a ground-track error on base — showing up three ways, so the fix is on base, not on final. Item 9 is a pitch-and-power misconception, so the fix is on the ground, with a whiteboard. Item 6 is usually item 1 arriving late.

AIH ch. 9's rule applies: safety permitting, it is frequently better to let learners progress part of the way into the mistake and find a way out — "it is difficult for learners to learn a maneuver properly if they seldom have the opportunity to correct an error."

The physics first, because your student will ask why: whenever an airfoil produces lift, air curling upward around the tip combines with the downwash to form a fast-spinning trailing vortex. As AOA increases, the pressure difference between the top and bottom of the airfoil grows, causing more violent vortices. Wingtip vortices are therefore greatest when the generating aircraft is "heavy, clean, and slow" — most commonly during approaches and departures, because AOA is highest then (PHAK ch. 5).

The procedures (PHAK ch. 5):

• Avoid flying through another aircraft's flight path.
• Taking off behind another aircraft, rotate prior to the point at which the preceding aircraft rotated.
• Avoid following another aircraft on a similar flight path at an altitude within 1,000 feet.
• Landing behind another aircraft, approach the runway above the preceding aircraft's path and touch down after the point where its wheels contacted the runway.

Wind matters because wingtip vortices drift with the wind at the speed of the wind. Around helicopters: avoid a hovering helicopter by at least three rotor disc diameters, and treat a helicopter in slow forward flight as a strong vortex generator.

Definition first: windshear is a sudden, drastic change in wind speed and/or direction over a very small area, subjecting an aircraft to violent updrafts and downdrafts and abrupt changes in horizontal movement. Low-level windshear is especially hazardous due to the proximity of the aircraft to the ground, and it is commonly associated with passing frontal systems, thunderstorms, temperature inversions, and strong upper level winds greater than 25 knots (PHAK ch. 12).

The cause-and-effect a student needs: a tailwind quickly changing to a headwind causes an increase in airspeed and performance; a headwind changing to a tailwind causes a decrease in airspeed and performance.

The microburst is the severe case (PHAK ch. 12):

• Horizontal diameter 1–2 miles, nominal depth 1,000 feet, lifespan about 5–15 minutes, downdrafts up to 6,000 fpm.
• Indicated by an intense rain shaft at the surface but virga at cloud base — and a ring of blowing dust is often the only visible clue.
• The approach encounter runs performance-increasing headwind, then performance-decreasing downdraft, then a rapidly increasing tailwind, which can force the airplane to the ground short of the runway.

So the instructional point: an unexplained airspeed gain on final is a warning, not a gift.