remoak: I tend to agree in the sense that he never should have been so far away on downwind that making the field would be an issue at all, especially considering that he would have been near 1500 ft when it quit in the first place. Maybe this will teach a few of the muppets at the airport to stop doing scenic flights of the GAAP boundary when they're supposed to be doing circuits.
However, I think there is room to appreciate a good effort even when you put yourself in the situation through your own poor performance/decision making. Gimly (sp?) glider being an example. He did Ok to fly in between buildings, make a low level turn and impact the ground in a level and nose up attitude.