Semi-Circular base leg
In about 1991 I flew as a passenger on American Airlines Chicago to DFW. The flight was much delayed due to an incorrect warning light and eventually we departed after boarding the passengers for the next flight too - or maybe we changed aircraft I forget. I think that the aircraft was a DC-10 or Lockheed Tristar. The same type did the Glasgow-Chicago leg. (Wiki, she say AA had DC-10 and not Tristar.)
The flight crew announced that they would try to catch up towards the schedule.
On arrival near DFW the flight crew announced something about co-operation from ATC allowing a landing without holding.
I was surprised when I saw a runway out of the window (left I think) that seemed much closer that I would have expected for an airliner. It turned out that we were on the downwind leg of a circuit to land on that runway. It was not much different from what I had experienced in the Cessna 150 and Chipmunk which I had flown some years previously. The aircraft then executed a semi-circular base leg and rolled level smack on position for short final and landing. It was all very smooth and I felt that the pilot had exhibited astonishing judgement in order to accomplish the final approach and landing in this manner.
Many years later I saw a TV program about carrier operations and thought that I recognised the approach. Now this thread has reminded me of it again.
We did seem to catch up very nearly to schedule after a delay of perhaps two hours. I was astonished.
Just to be clear I at no time felt unsafe. It appeared to be beautifully flown with no abrupt changes of any kind. The pilot clearly knew exactly what he was doing.
I guess the pilot might have been ex-navy? Does anyone else use these semi-circular base leg approaches? I wondered what the management might have thought of the approach? What would they think of such an approach today?