B737 NG Circling procedure

[wilco77]

On breaking off from the approach to carry out the circling do you use time or do you fly to the edge of the fix distance on a circling approach before turning downwind?

Thanks
Wilco

[FlyingStone]

Timing. There's no point of prolonging level flight all the way to the boundary of the circling area (and back), especially with low MDAs.

[172_driver]

I believe the circling area on a TERPS designed approach is a lot smaller than a PANS-OPS designed approach. To keep in mind, when considering how far to go.