Among my many incidents and accidents I had no midair accident. The only times I came close were in the back seat of a tandem trainer while instructing. Vision out the front is poor and on base we don't tip the wing often enough to see traffic on final. Conflict potential, with or without radio, is highest there. It can be startling to see, in the turn to final, fast twin traffic on straight in. Continuing the turn with increased bank is logical. How steep? 90 to 120 degrees of bank gives the best separation. Holding the nose up on the horizon as taught will not work with this bank. And pulling hard on the elevator here is not the best way to increase rate of turn by decreasing radius of turn. This now necessary angle of bank is not possible except by allowing the nose to go down as the airplane was designed to do. Because of my gunship and crop dusting experience and because releasing back pressure in steep turns was default for me, startle was no problem here. Using the 400' vertical space available here and the resultant ground rush in the 1 g turn of 120 degrees bank was no problem here.

Training and practice in low level energy management turns develops comfort with elevator pressure release and dissipates ground rush startle. The reason that pulling to increase rate of turn and hold the nose up on the horizon causes so many pattern fatalities is that pilots are taught to turn that way. Pilots are confused, I think, by the increased rate of turn that pulling hard on the stick in a level turn provides. The slower we go the faster we turn. Motorcycle guys know this. Pulling on the stick decreases airspeed and this increases rate by decreasing radius of turn. The proper way to increase rate of turn is to increase bank while releasing elevator pressure. Slowing wings level first also helps, but that is not available here. For stability while flying by reference to instruments we need to limit pitch and bank, and thus rate of turn. This is not necessary during contact flying and decreases maneuverability.

Ok, the math gets crazy here. MTV says pulling on the elevator increases rate of turn and he is right. He is always right. But, pulling on the elevator also increases wing loading. Banking more and pulling less increases the rate of turn while allowing airspeed to increase as the nose goes down because of neutral dynamic stability. Pilots who fly high normally will not likely develop dynamic neutral stability muscle memory. Orientation in how it works to keep us from stalling in turns in the pattern where fatal would be helpful, I think. Startle will still be a problem, but inattention to airspeed should not be. Just a bit of elevator relaxation in turns could make a world of difference. A little altitude loss can be fixed wings level. We could fly more comfortably around the airport a bit further from the razor's edge of stall. As MTV says, level turn altitude maintenance proficiency is valuable as well. That instrument flying proficiency could be more safely learned at altitude, I think.

Thanks Contact .

It is hard to get a fix on how often this happens. Full time instructors in Cessnas have the wing covering the higher and faster guy doing straight in, but they are up near the windscreen for a better angle than in the floor in the back of an older tandem. More have radio now, but also more pilots hear and avoid now rather than see and avoid. We who still do quarter mile distant patterns are not in the way as much now. I never had any near, much less near miss, on pipeline patrol save a crop duster coming out between trees in the Delta. I used the radio receiver only and a good visual angle from well below to stay clear of uncontrolled airport traffic until completely clear. In all those years only one guy caught me coming in last as he was turning off into the last taxiway while I was turning off at the first.

Both the parallel runway midair at Centennial and the recent parallel runway midair at Las Vegas are examples of how this can happen in a radio environment, even a tower control. Instruction will most likely be in high wing and as slow as anything out there. The safest place to be when the slower airplane in a fast/slow mix is low and last. So how would it work on the flight test to say, "I'm staying low so I can see everyone and I will wait an land last for safety?" With tower we don't have a choice, but we can expect those sorts of things to happen. In training and on a flight test, we should have a choice for safety.

The advantage for those who work low is that they enter the most dangerous area of maneuvering flight at an altitude from which they can look up into a blue or gray backdrop and more easily see everyone in the pattern or entering the pattern from afar. The disadvantage is that they enter the most dangerous area of maneuvering flight many time each day.

The advantage for those who only fly recreationally, is that they can enter the most dangerous area of maneuvering flight during periods of less activity. They can choose to arrive low or high. Class C will require climbing for radar contact, but descent just outside D to take a peek uncluttered is possible.