Around the Pattern

At the end of the last article I was returning from the practice area to land at the Stead Airport (KRTS).

The winds on departure, according to the AWOS, were 110/8 and I had selected Runway 08 as my departure runway. At that time there was no other traffic operating at the airport.

Since I had only been gone from the airport for about a half hour I was expecting not much change in the weather conditions. Aah, but this is Reno, NV.

The AWOS now was reporting winds at 130/12 so Runway 14 was the clear choice.I figured I’d do a few touch and go landings for practice.

As I was north of the airport and maneuvering toward a point where I could execute a 45 degree downwind entry to Runway 14 I heard other traffic call entering downwind for the same runway.  Normally this wouldn’t be much of a factor – just find the traffic visually and take the necessary spacing to safely share the traffic pattern.

Read More

I managed to get a short flight in over the weekend – only about 45 minutes but that was enough.

I wanted to fly on Saturday because a weak cold front was forecast to pass through on Sunday and to pick up the winds a bit (it did). A series of circumstances resulted in not getting into the air until about 2 pm.

There were no aircraft in the traffic pattern by that time of day so I listened to the AWOS to help in the runway choice decision. The winds as I taxied out were from 110 degrees at 9 knots. Hmm.

My airport has two runways 14-32 and 8-26. So, using runway 8 would have the wind 30 degrees right of the runway heading and using runway 14 would out it 30 degrees to the left. So, which would be better?

Read More