Imagine the scene. You enter the zone at some regional airfield with (say) the field to the North of you, and the runway in use is 36. Therefore, you are in effect positioned automatically for a straight-in to final approach.
However, this is a busy field (Class D), and there's no chance you'll be given a direct approach. Instead, ATC tell you to "join downwind right for runway 36" : which means you have to then fly parallel to the runway heading, wide, all the way up to the crosswind position, then a 180 turn inside onto downwind before turning base etc ... or does it ?
These joins are handed out at my regional airport frequently, and I've always just thought of it as something for ATC to do with the little guys while they get the jets in and out. Hey ho, it's more comfortable than orbiting, I guess. But am I actually doing the right thing ? In these circumstances, is there a prescribed place to actually "join" the downwind leg ? Is it at the crosswind end, or will the middle do ... ??
I appreciate this is hardly a vitally important topic, and that I could just ask ATC, but I'm bored this morning, so ...
FF
