Hi all,
During a normal session of circuit flying I do about 1 circuit every 7 minutes. So in a flight of 50mins airborne time I do 7 circuits. Does this sound normal to most or am I flying bomber circuits? This is at an airfield pretty much at sea level with a 1000' circuit. The technique I use is turn onto crosswind once above 500' and turn downwind when ready, which is normally about 45° and just reaching circuit height 2POB in a C-152. When I first started flying I flew from Rand Airport, near Johannesburg. With a runway altitude of something like 5500', if I tried turning onto downwind at circuit height then I would certainly be off into the wilderness due to the reduced performance of the aircraft. If I can remember correctly most of the downwind leg was still in a climb
. Based on these experiences I try not to judge my turn onto downwind leg on whether I have reached circuit height or not, but more on position relative to runway. I find being about 1.5 miles from the runway on downwind doesn't rush me or leave too much time for sight seeing (except when ATC asks for a few orbits!).