I think that it is one thing to criticise experienced pilots who without a care in the world fly huge circuits. But it is another thing all together to criticise a low hour PPL who may well be flying solo (pre- or post- qualification) and does wide circuits and simply wouldn't be able to cope with the workload of flying a tighter circuit. Problem is, when I'm flying behind another airplane, I have no idea which category the wide-circuiter ahead is in.
No doubt some will claim that the instruction is lacking if a pilot is flying solo and isn't able to cope with a tight circuit, but its not always that easy (see below) and I think we should all be tollerant of other pilots and their capabilities. I would certainly not want to be indirectly linked to an accident because some low houred pilot felt it necessary to fly a tight circuit, or felt pressured into rushing what they were doing.
Andy
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As an aside, as you may guess, I fly from a 2900m runway. I can get the club's Warrior to 1000 feet before I reach the far end of the runway if I have a mind to. I can therefore be at circuit height for probably half a mile before I am allowed to turn crosswind, due to the need to stay clear of Castle Donington village. Likewise, downwind is outside Castle Donington (probably a mile abeam) and the base turn is usually the far side of Kegworth leaving maybe a two mile final - I'm quite happy to run down the M1 inside Kegworth if I can leaving me a 1/4 mile final, but that's not the way its taught. I'm not criticising the teaching at East Midlands, but local conditions simply mitigate against SPLs learning tight circuits - with the best will in the world, there's only so much circuit training that could be done at other airfields. The net result though, I suspect, is that pilots who rarely get an opportunity to practice tight circuits will be unlikely to perform them, or indeed may not be able to cope with them, when they go to smaller airfields. Again, I think we need to be tollerant of the abilities of others, and not just assume pilots fly blindly off into the middle of no-where just because they can't be bothered to keep it tight.