A good case in point of the perils of bomber circuits happened to me the other week. The visibility (officially 7000m) was getting low, the sun was low making matters worse, in the circuit I was cleared to final as #3 in a Tiger with a Duchess at #2.
Turning downwind we were visual with Duchess but couldn't see #1. The standard speeds for the Duchess made it 30knots quicker than us downwind and so it pulled away from us and eventually we lost it in the haze. As we went late downwind to we could see a low wing high tail type in the haze on a 2+nm final - I think to myself it's exactly where the Duchess should be if he's extended just a little and that he'll be level with the wing at the 'standard' downwind/base turn point, so the spacing is coming together nicely. Only when we get on final do we realise we're still #3, the type infront is a PA38, still #1 and we have cut up the #2 Duchess who was on long final and is rightly pi**ed off.
What was the root cause? Well, despite the lack of other traffic the PA38 decided that he needed a 3+mile final at min. safe approach speed - causing the faster Duchess to extend what must have been five or six miles downwind before turning base to give himself room.
Now, the slip in Situational Awareness of not identifying the traffic in the circuit and not asking for a position check on the radio were our fault, but the whole damn thing was caused by a totally unnecessary bomber circuit in low vis conditions! This all happened with me flying from the RHS and a mega-hour FIC instructor in the LHS, both of us thought the Traumahawk was the Duchess, so it could happen to anyone.
Another withdrawal from the luck account to credit to the experience account.
cheers!
foggy.
Last edited by foghorn; 30th October 2002 at 14:01.