Glider 90 - I am not quite certain from your phrasing the precise point that you are querying, but the following may be relevant, certainly in the UK. The standard circuit terminology is published in CAP 413 (UK), which is derived from ICAO PANS-ATM. Each is a masterpiece of inadequate terminology insofar as no designations are given to the first two legs of a circuit immediately after departure. Common practice in ATC training is to use the terms "climb-out" and "crosswind" respectively and but there is no formal authority for this. Also, CAP 413 uses the dreadful expression (in the text) of "upwind threshold" instead of "end" - a runway direction has one threshold and one end! Hence, there can be no precise meaning for the term upwind, rather that it is a general term indicating that area relative to the runway-in-use. CAP 413 adds to the confusion by giving an example of traffic information being passed as G-CD, traffic is a Cherokee upwind and a Tomahawk late downwind. Perhaps this is what you are querying. In this case, where is the pilot supposed to look for the Cherokee - on climb-out, crosswind or even at the start of the downwind leg before reaching the downwind report position? I have drawn this anomaly to the attention of CAA but am not holding my breath.
2 s
Last edited by 2 sheds; 10th March 2019 at 17:18.
Reason: correction as spotted by +TSRA