The Traffic Patterns

The Traffic pattern consists of 5 legs.

They are:

1. The Departure leg - which is the take-off roll.

2. The Crosswind leg - The flight path is perpendicular to the runway and generally crosswise to the wind direction and hence called the crosswind leg.

3. The Downwind leg - The aircraft is going with the wind instead of into it hence called the downwind leg.

4. The Base leg - The short side ahead of the runway is called the base leg and is usually perpendicular to the runway.

5. The Final approach (sometimes just called Final) - From the end of base leg to the start of the runway is the Final Approach.

The Landing Flare

While landing an aircraft, the transistion from a normal approach attitude to a landing attitude is termed as a Landing Flare. The Flare is usually carried out when the aircraft is approximately 10 feet from the ground. The roundout should be smooth enough so that the main landing gear wheels touchdown first followed by the nose-gear wheels. A common mistake which most student pilots do in their first flying lessons is pulling back hard on the yoke even before the aircraft reaches the flare height. This is a dangerous mistake and should be avoided.