As to the 'Always be witiin gliding distance of the runway whilst in the circuit' argument;.....
I would suggest that, considering the wide range of aircraft we have in circuit patterns today
Thank God for someone else who doesn't believe that the mantra of always within gliding distance of the field is always appropriate
Why thank God? Trying to remain within gliding distance of the field sounds completely sensible to me. Very rarely does one share the circuit with a modern passenger jet and so quite why - for example - a circuit containing the usual mix of PA28 and 172's needs to be a size suitable for a Boeing B52 is beyond me.