Defiantly not tight approaches …
You should PFL in circuit more often guys if you really think that was tight approaches.
Just do it with an instructor on board initially.
@Peter
Looks like 1600 FPM descent rate at the start with what, 10 deg flaps (guessing from the view out the window)? What was your airspeed then? Then the descent rate seems to drop to 1000 FPM. What was the descent rate and airspeed on short final?
The initial -1600fpm was because I was descending from ~3000ft onto the start of the downwind leg, with gear down and flap 1.
Speed on short final about 80kt.
The -1000fpm through the next bit was not far short of a glide approach; you can’t get much tighter than that in a 60kt Vs plane.
You will often “get in trouble” doing any tidying up on the runway – although if it does reduce runway distance and you really need the distance that must be another matter. Loads of accidents have occurred tidying up on the landing roll so its maybe not a good thing, unless mutli pilot.
Peter – I would have thought to keep it really tight being a lot lower would be the answer as inevitably killing a load of height is always going to increase the circuit size. What about flying the circuit at 600 feet, on speed and fully configured from crosswind? I would have thought you can keep a TB20 within the perimeter then? I fully appreciate air traffic will need to co-operate which might not have been an option.
I am not sure…
600ft is well below any official circuit height; it places you near the helicopter traffic height. And if you screw up, you are that much closer to the ground…
The case for tidying up flaps while still moving is doubtful IMHO. Yes you get better braking with no flaps but full flaps slow you down pretty well too, and don’t wear out the brakes. Also one should stop first and then follow the post landing checklist 
A lot of people have raised the gear instead of flaps and then you just need a bump to flip the squat switches….
NinerEchoPapa wrote:
I did. I flew with a friend who used to do this and it struck me as a bit strange the first time I saw it. It didn’t seem the safest thing to be leaning forward and sideways at that stage of the flight but I read somewhere that it improves braking (though now I think about it, no flaps = less drag). What is your opinion?
The conventional wisdom is that you do not fiddle with configuration during the landing. OK there is no retractable gear on many aircraft, but it’s a good habit; there are many instances of inadvertent gear retraction on the roll out or taxi in. I know of an incident which occurred fairly recently. It was on a Supermarine Spitfire so you can imagine the disappointment.
That was a standard circuit as far as the place I fly is concerned.
Nice and tight.
That was a standard circuit as far as the place I fly is concerned.
In some places this would be called a wide circuit. When I was towing gliders, there was about a minute or less from dropping the cable to touchdown. As the runway was only 520m there was no way to drop and land afterwards. So you had to fly a very very short circuit (good thing we are not talking electronics).
Speeds are for a DR400
On dropping the cable you are around 240km/h between Va and Vne (a lower Vne with cable), then hard bank to the left (you already have lost a bit speed to be under Va of 210), 60 degree would do, with a bit pulling up. Then widen the turn and lower the bank, drop the flaps (170km/h) and you find yourself on a very short final with around 80km/h.
You need a lot of practice for that. I once did 15 tows in 2:10 with refuelling.
The reason people keep fiddling wirh flaps while still on the runway is because when you learn touch and goes you need to retract flaps on the runway to take off again. It is one of the many bad habits that registers in the brain from PPL training days.
I did it yesterday again and got a shitstorm by my IRI and rightly so ;)
