I'll try to address some of the issues.
also if someone would EMAIL me I can EMAIL them the diagram and perhaps they can figure out how to post it. so my email is
[email protected].
ONE...engine failure scenario. I grew up (flying wise) with a little airport on san francisco bay shore. so if approaching from half of the sky, I would be in the bay if the engine quit. the other half of the sky was very densely populated and a rotten place to land too. there was a golf course nearby that could be used...BUT, and I don't say this lightly, someday you will just have to trust that you and your engine will be doing just fine. Lindbergh's engine worked really well and that was 85 years ago. if you are truly worried about engine failures (always have a plan to be sure) then takeoff, spiral up, circle the field and spiral down...and don't ever go more than a couple of miles from your home airport.
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Radio...this procedure will work at an airport with a tower, unicom or ctaf or multicom. as someone said...the USA has many tower controlled airports....but litterally thousands of non controlled airports...sometimes someone will give you the wind and runway via unicom or sometimes not. its still up to YOU to act as PIC and determine the right way to approach and land.
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someone mentioned the idea that if someone were 'orbiting' on the downwind that the procedure outlined might prove a problem. Well, you make radio calls and state position and intention...and you can certainly listen to someone who reports ORBITING on downwind...or doing a left 360 as we might say here where the airplane was invented. AND SINCE YOU HAVE FLOWN OVER THE AREA, above pattern altitude (both piston and turbine) you might have actually SEEN someone orbiting or additional traffic. And you could extend your flight path to even avoid circling traffic.
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someone asked in this example how one would get to the downwind if approaching from the south...the beauty of this procedure is you approach the airfield from any direction and check out, reconiter, look around from an altitude where you are NOT IN THE WAY of other traffic in the pattern (circuit). You would still want to enter on a 45 degree angle to the midfield on the downwind...and in this example the downwind is west of the field.
someone asked if this was a home brewed procedure. it is not an FAA requirement to do the overhead stuff...but joining the pattern on a 45 degree angle is very standard. if you join on base leg, you are asking for trouble...
?...welll let's say someone didn't know that left traffic was the order of the day and was joining on right base to your left base...COLLISION on base! but since you were smart and overflew the field and confirmed left traffic by the traffic pattern indicators, you are doing the right/correct thing.
I learned this procedure in 1975...the man who taught it to me was the same guy who examined me for all my certificates (except atp). HE TAUGHT B17 pilots during WW2, and has spent more time listening to the ATIS than most of you guys have flying!
someone posted a diagram(not mine) called: transitioning to the pattern...I disagree with that procedure and it lends itself to collision.
mmgreve...thanks for the words.