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| How does establishing and maintaining a stabilized approach, as we're trained to do, fit in with waggling your wings and flying a curved path, to improve your lookout on final? |
Flying a stabilized approach has nothing to do with flying a straight line.
My favorite approach in an uncontrolled traffic pattern is straight-in over the numbers for an overhead approach; pass over the numbers at eight hundred or a thousand feet, and enter a continuous turn to a landing on the numbers. This gives an excellent view of the traffic pattern all the way around, as well as the runway.
If you're focusing on the runway, no matter how you approach it to land, then you're missing out on a lot of the big picture you should be seeing. Again, look for that traffic as though your life depends upon it...because it really does.
One doesn't necessarily need to see over the nose to make a safe approach and landing. If one needs to fly a downwind to final approach with a continuous turn, that's fine. Be sure that while you're doing it the wing that's up isn't blocking traffic, and you take the time to look in all the blind spots.
All the traffic in the world will eventually converge on a runway; this is THE place to have a collision. Expect it, all the time, and keep an enthusiastic lookout for traffic. Too many get in the habit of letting the radio look for traffic for them. "Any inbound traffic please advise." "Any traffic in the area, please advise." "Anybody in the pattern at XXX?" Didn't hear anybody reply...so they must not be there, right?
Tempt fate and find out. Or instead, look away from that runway frequently to scan for traffic and make sure you're not about to occupy the same space as another airplane, bird, helicopter, car, deer, moose, elk, rocket, or flying teapot. You know they're out there.