BEagle,
Taking your point then, how does non variance of the Standard Circuit in your argument cope with an inbound stream of Medium to Heavy vortex wake category aircraft against Bloggs in his light aircraft bashing the visual cct?
Remembering that the recomended vortex wake separation between a light and a medium is 6 miles, between a light and a heavy is 8 miles and that training and GA traffic does take the lowest flight priorities, Category Z (unless classed as a NORMAL FLIGHT by filing a flight plan in the normal way and conforming with normal routing procudures, or is an Initial IR test conducted by the CAA FEU under the c/s EXAM), where do you suggest Bloggs goes?
The visual circuit is not a rigid pattern as you would expect an instrument pattern to be. Flexibility in this is sometimes required for an ATCO to service the needs of all aircraft in the sky. We are tasked to provide a safe, orderly and expeditious flow of air traffic, which at times means being flexible and adjusting the order in which things happen, and how aircraft are and can be integrated.
In the visual cct, both the pilot and the controller should be looking out of the window anyway.
No ATCO in my experience would try (or even want to) make an executive decision for the pilot, or compromise his command authority. If a pilot is unable to comply with a request or instruction, all he has to do is say so and what he intends to do as an alternative. If the alternative can be accommodated then great (the controller may not have thought of that solution), however if it not feasable to accommodate it then the aircraft will have the option of going with option 1, or leaving the cct/ATZ until a more suitable time. I would suggest however that maintaining a standard pattern to roll out 2 miles behind a Heavy would not be one of the pilot's better decisions, nor would continually going around into the departure sector upwind.
I suggest that lack of flexibility in the vis cct could be counter productive to students.
PS Genghis, do you mean VFR or "visual"? There is a difference!!
Last edited by Ops and Mops; 26th Jul 2004 at 14:05.