Let’s face it, with weather like we’ve had this month, who hasn’t been thinking of flying? I’ve been doing quite well with a few fun flights in Chrissy and a few hours towards my commercial license in Cutty. I found a great instructor at Springbank Aero who is not only light enough to fly with me in the 150 but is a fellow Newfoundlander! We’ve been having a great time so far with me flying “under the hood”.

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the Rust Remover this spring. I was quite looking forward to it, but other commitments got in the way. Fortunately, getting a commercial license and night rating will more than cover the requirements.

One issue that has troubled me has been around uncontrolled airport procedures, especially at places like Linden. Over the past two years, I’ve noticed aircraft flying both left-hand and right-hand circuits for 34. In chatting with pilots, the reasoning for flying a right-hand circuit has been so that they do not have to fly over the town. OK, so the reasoning is sound enough on the surface, but since I have always flown left-hand circuits for 34, I wanted to find out more.

I decided to start my search in the AIM (the new version of the AIP) and found that in section RAC 4.5.2 the rules are very clear: “All turns shall be to the left while operating in the circuit, unless a right-hand circuit has been specified in the CFS.” Note that the wording is “shall” not “should.” Since the Linden airstrip is not published in the CFS, the exception to the left-hand circuit rule is not met.

Reading further, the AIM is quite clear on how to enter the circuit. If the active runway is not known, and the pilot wishes to do a field inspection to determine the winds, the pilot should cross the field 500’ above circuit altitude as per RAC 4.5.2 (a)(iii). The pilot should then return to the upwind side of the circuit to descend before crossing the runway at circuit altitude to join the middle of the left-hand downwind. If you already know the circuit, you should descend on the upwind side to cross the runway at circuit altitude. The only other way to enter the circuit is to join straight in onto the downwind leg.

OK, so how does this apply to Linden and the desire to be “good neighbors” and avoid flying over the town? Well, regardless of whether you fly a right-hand or left-hand circuit for 34, you will need to fly over the town, either on the downwind (left-hand) or while descending on the upwind side (right-hand). The only way to avoid flying over the town is to join straight in on the right-hand downwind. Given that most of us fly into Linden from the SW quadrant, it’s unlikely that we would be in a position to join straight in for a downwind to 34.

Furthermore, from looking at Google Earth, the town appears to be only ¾ of a mile wide, with the runway on the immediate eastern edge. Flying a left-hand base leg at ¾ to 1 mile from the runway would still allow the pilot to fly a standard left-hand circuit without flying over the town.

The real problem with right-hand circuits at Linden comes from the fact that the CUFC members are not the only users of the field. I’ve seen aircraft from the Calgary Flying Club and other private operators using the strip; and they generally fly a left-hand circuit. This could cause some real issues as traffic from both base legs attempts to merge onto final.

Although radio communication should be maintained, it is not required. If a private operator were to join the circuit, he/she would be looking for conflicting traffic on the left-hand downwind ONLY, since it’s not legal to fly a right-hand circuit there. The end result could be quite disastrous!