Why at some airports/airfields you need to fly a non-standard circuit/pattern?

Question

Why at some airports/airfields you need to fly a non-standard circuit/pattern, what are the specific reasons for this and what are the differences between them while flying?

you should give example of airfield where this is the case. I suspect each airfield has its own reason for such pattern. — Manu H, Mar 20 '18 at 16:14

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 20 '18 at 12:58

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The specific reasons will likely vary with each individual airport, but the most common reason I've seen is noise abatement.

If the north/south runway is on the west side of town, using right traffic when landing on 18 will keep the planes from flying over the houses.

From the pilot's point of view you fly the circuit making right turns instead of left turns. It's easy to do and is covered in initial training.

answered Mar 20 '18 at 12:58

Dan Pichelman

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Nearby mountains are also a pretty good reason :-) – jamesqf Mar 20 '18 at 18:45
@jamesqf - agreed. Running into them can be noisy – Dan Pichelman Mar 20 '18 at 18:50

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 20 '18 at 13:26

2

When there are parallel runways, the patterns for each will be away from the parallel runway. That means that some of the patterns will be RP.

answered Mar 20 '18 at 13:26

abelenky

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Why at some airports/airfields you need to fly a non-standard circuit/pattern?

2 Answers2