Cleared for the Visual Approach (Traffic Pattern)

TOGA9

TOGA9

OPS CHECK GOOD
Hypothetical question here:

I am inbound IFR in a generic regional jet to KABC Airport, which has runways 9 and 27. Winds are favoring a landing on runway 27. Approaching from the northwest, I call the field in sight at approximately 10 miles out. ATC clears me for the visual approach and to contact CTAF. I maneuver to fly north of and parallel to the runway, turn south, then turn west and join about a 4 mile final for runway 27. Once parked at the terminal, an FAA Inspector meets the aircraft, accuses me of flying a right hand traffic pattern, and states he/she will be opening an investigation.

Does anyone have good guidance or previous case law for this situation? Would this situation ever be legal, or would the correct action have been to cross the field and maneuver for a left hand traffic pattern? We are assuming KABC has standard left hand traffic for runways 9 and 27.

Thanks!
 
TOGA9 said:
Hypothetical question here:

I am inbound IFR in a generic regional jet to KABC Airport, which has runways 9 and 27. Winds are favoring a landing on runway 27. Approaching from the northwest, I call the field in sight at approximately 10 miles out. ATC clears me for the visual approach and to contact CTAF. I maneuver to fly north of and parallel to the runway, turn south, then turn west and join about a 4 mile final for runway 27. Once parked at the terminal, an FAA Inspector meets the aircraft, accuses me of flying a right hand traffic pattern, and states he/she will be opening an investigation.

Does anyone have good guidance or previous case law for this situation? Would this situation ever be legal, or would the correct action have been to cross the field and maneuver for a left hand traffic pattern? We are assuming KABC has standard left hand traffic for runways 9 and 27.

Thanks!
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Not an attorney, but that inspector needs to disappear.
 
Based on your hypothetical (which means you can't apply it to a real case)...

The FAR requirement that, unless "authorized or required" all turns at a nontowered airport be to the left unless it's an airport where all turns are to be made to the right does not have an exception for IFR traffic. And the FAA has been pretty consistent in saying a clearance for the visual (or a circling IAP) does not constitute authorization or a requirement to violate that rule. See the 2009 Murphy, 2013 Collins and 2014 Krug Interpretations from the FAA Chief Counsel. You can also look at the somewhat infamous 1992 Alaska Airlines case (which the NTSB stuck with when asked to reconsider) where the pilot was violated for making a right turn some distance from the airport on a visual day.

We can have a real good discussion about real instrument approaches at or near minimums and a case could definitely be made that a "Circling NA" that prohibits circling on the "correct" side would be "necessity" under certain circumstances, but I'm not sure why a rule prohibiting flying against the flow of a busy VFR pattern in conditions good enough for a visual approach is a bad idea.

The hypothetical pilot should probably speak with an aviation attorney before the hypothetical investigation goes further to get a clearer picture of the possible options.
 
Thanks Midlife, this question was indeed hypothetical. It came from a cockpit discussion the other day during an approach. Just wanted to see what the experts would say.

Do you think there would be grounds to say one is maneuvering clear of the traffic pattern, such as the "turn approaching to land" argument used by the Alaska Airlines Captain? It seems the law judge suggested turning at 5-6 miles would constitute a straight in approach, versus maneuvering to land in the traffic pattern.
 
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My read, and it's not something you can take to the bank, is that the 5-6 miles is a fuzzy number that has more to do with what traffic is in the area and what one is flying.

To me, the key phrase is in the reconsideration opinion:

any turn into a straight-in approach must be made sufficiently far from the runway that it does not interfere with the normal traffic pattern. This naturally requires consideration of the aircraft using that airport.​

Not a particularly helpful statement since it doesn't define a bright line for compliance. More of an "I'll know it when I see it" kind of standard.
 
If they set you up on the opposite side of the typical traffic traffic pattern, they are setting you up to be violated.
 
mshunter said:
If they set you up on the opposite side of the typical traffic traffic pattern, they are setting you up to be violated.
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Not at all the case. If you come in from due north to this hypothetical scenario, ATC should not need to hold your hand until you are on the "legal" downwind side.
 
ppragman said:
I mean, just cross over mid field and land.
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Actually that's the only right way to do it, if you do the 45 to downwind from the downwind side of the pattern, you'll be making a turn opposite of traffic pattern! The only way to make all your turns in the direction of the traffic pattern is to come from the runway side.
(And this kind of absurdity is why nitpicking to that level is inane).
 
Roger Roger said:
Not an attorney, but that inspector needs to disappear.
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Unfortunately his hypothetical is not so hypothetical. I've seen several cases like this in addition to the ones Mark cited that resulted in violations. Not all cases make it to the NTSB database.
 
(b) Direction of turns. When approaching to land at an airport without an operating control tower in Class G airspace— (applies to all the other airspaces whose regs reference class G regs)

(1) Each pilot of an airplane must make all turns of that airplane to the left unless the airport displays approved light signals or visual markings indicating that turns should be made to the right, in which case the pilot must make all turns to the right;

I don't know why it's so damn hard for some people to overfly into a proper traffic pattern. It seems like people just go with whatever side they are on as their traffic pattern. I see this from bugsmashers all the way up to the RJs that come into Mos Eisley. Ok. If you're on the proper side and a base entry makes sense, I don't see why that isn't in compliance with the regs, but to fly a left hand (or right hand) pattern to a runway with a depicted right hand (or left hand) traffic pattern screams "I spent my entire 1.5 hour flight reading magazines and none of it reading aeronautical publications because I've been doing this for x many years."
 
Honestly, after 14 years of airline flying, I don't remember a single pilot I flew with ever crossing over midfield and joining the downwind on the "correct" side. Everybody just flies an improvised pattern from whatever side they're cleared.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
Honestly, after 14 years of airline flying, I don't remember a single pilot I flew with ever crossing over midfield and joining the downwind on the "correct" side. Everybody just flies an improvised pattern from whatever side they're cleared.
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I usually bitch at anyone that does on a the radio at my field, because doing so takes them through a drop zone. Usually also a waste of breath, as only student pilots that don't speak English ever do so.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
Honestly, after 14 years of airline flying, I don't remember a single pilot I flew with ever crossing over midfield and joining the downwind on the "correct" side. Everybody just flies an improvised pattern from whatever side they're cleared.
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I usually go overhead, unless there is something keeping me from doing so.
 
drunkenbeagle said:
I usually bitch at anyone that does on a the radio at my field, because doing so takes them through a drop zone. Usually also a waste of breath, as only student pilots that don't speak English ever do so.
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Again, going back to reading the sectional and finding the little jumper dude over the airport. That does sorta beg the question, why would they put the pattern on the same side of the field as the dz?
 
gotWXdagain said:
Again, going back to reading the sectional and finding the little jumper dude over the airport. That does sorta beg the question, why would they put the pattern on the same side of the field as the dz?
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Airline pilots don't carry sectionals. Or AFDs. Or anything else that tells them what kind of traffic pattern an airport has.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
Honestly, after 14 years of airline flying, I don't remember a single pilot I flew with ever crossing over midfield and joining the downwind on the "correct" side. Everybody just flies an improvised pattern from whatever side they're cleared.
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Just like any other rule, violating the traffic pattern FAR works fine until there is an incident or someone else complains about it. But I thought the question was about what the rule is rather than whether and when one can get away with breaking it.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
Airline pilots don't carry sectionals. Or AFDs. Or anything else that tells them what kind of traffic pattern an airport has.
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Kind of like Allegiant, huh? ;)

Sayings about ignorance not being a defense aside, I'll go out on a limb and say I doubt it would be a defense to a violation to say. "Heck, I'm an AIRLINE PILOT! I don't need to be aware of information affecting my flight!"
 
MidlifeFlyer said:
Kind of like Allegiant, huh? ;) Sayings about ignorance not being a defense aside, I'll go out on a limb and say I doubt it would be a defense to a violation to say. "Heck, I'm an AIRLINE PILOT! I don't need to be aware of information affecting my flight!"
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I'm not arguing about what the law is. You certainly know that better than I. I'm just telling you what people actually do. And after 14 years of representing airline pilots, I never encountered a case of a pilot receiving an LOI for this. I'm sure it happens. It's just so incredibly rare that it's not something I personally would worry about. Everyone has different risk tolerances with their certificate, though.
 
ATN_Pilot said:
Airline pilots don't carry sectionals. Or AFDs. Or anything else that tells them what kind of traffic pattern an airport has.
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We do. Even our GOM has traffic pattern entries for each of our destinations. But we also have far fewer destinations.
 
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