Cosmic Wind
one of the most important aspects of circuit flying is situational awareness and a good plan in the event of a problem
I couldn't agree more, but I'm talking about a circuit novice. How many 10 hour students do you know who can correct for drift in the circuit let alone know where everyone else is? Similarly, when out in the great blue yonder, said student can climb/descend and do the level off really nicely, but they take their time doing it, particularly the trimming, put that in the circuit and the will initially go wide, especially if they have other things to think about now.
I also had a pre circuit student who, when asked about the downwind checks in the briefing room (fyi
DFC, the normal BUMMFITCH checks) could reel them off without error, but when actually downwind couldn't even remember the first one).
Anyway, when my student is a little more capable in the circuit I will ask them to do a good tight circuit and then ask them to tell me what we're going to do about our possible conflict with that Cessna who is wider and slower than us, with the conclusion going something like "that's one of the reasons why we spent a lesson learning how to fly the aircraft at a slow safe speed!"
DFC, the particular aircraft I teach in is a Robin Alpha, downwind speed c.95kts.
Just to reiterate, I'm talking novice students here.