[Jon H]

I went to my local field yesterday to do some circuits. I've recently gained my PPL, but thought my landings could do with some more practice. I was the only one in the circuit to begin with, and my landings were going quite well, then another aircraft joined the circuit.

She called joining downwind, I called crosswind and started looking for the traffic. I called downwind, she called late downwind. By the time the other aircraft called final, I was approaching my normal base leg turn point, but I was reluctant to turn towards the other aircraft on final when I still hadn’t spotted them. I was mindful that my Cessna 152 is not the fastest of aircraft and the other might have been further out. Instead I left the ATZ for several minutes and rejoined downwind.

This time, the other aircraft called “fairly long final”, so I flew a long downwind leg and kept looking down the final approach. When I eventually turned final, I called “final, traffic ahead not sighted, remaining at circuit height”. The reply was “I’ve now landed and vacated the runway” – I looked down, and there she was!

How would the more experienced pilots here deal with the situation? Would you follow an aircraft round the circuit if you couldn’t find them visually?

[Rupert S]

I would extend downwind and slow down. You might call "contact one ahead" maybe even slipping in that you're not visual with the traffic on finals to try and prompt a position report.

[Jon H]

You might call "contact one ahead"

I thought that meant that you are in visual contact. Is that wrong?

Unfortunately there isn't much in CAP413 about communicating these situations.

[PeteSpencer]

Aircraft on final as viewed from base leg or even late downwind are often much lower than you'd expect.

The tendency is to look in the level of the horizon when in truth the traffic is low down in among the trees/houses and very difficult to spot.

The non standard term 'contact one ahead' means that you can see that traffic ahead.

Usually reported as 'visual with traffic'.

Peter

[CaptChaos]

First of all, good airmanship. If you are not happy, don't carry on. Respect for your choice.

The circuit is a very important "see and avoid" situation. A number of factors can make it harder to spot where traffic is; they may be flying a different size/shape circuit so they will not be where you would expect to be for their call.

Height also makes a big difference as has been mentioned - when climbing crosswind it is easy to spot aircraft as the are silhouetted above by the sky. Base and finals they can be hidden by the terrain background. Try to hold a particular area in sight a little longer, you might spot the movement.

And communicate - saying you are not visual with the traffic will usually evince a response as you found.

[Jon H]

Thank you all for your advice. I'll try the techniques suggested.

[Max Drift]

You might call "contact one ahead"

I once had an hour with an ex-military instructor who corrected me when I used the word 'contact'. He explained that, in his prior-world, 'contact' meant you were engaging with a hostile enemy and so when I said 'contact one ahead' his automatic reaction was to start shooting in that direction! It may or may not be true, but it had the effect of curing me of a poor habit - which after all is one of the reasons for the instructor hour.

[wessex boy]

I didn't use 'Contact' after my first military flight....until we were dealing with the aftermath of the Ternhill bombing.

Back to the OP, I have done the same when not happy with the circuit traffic, I have turned Base and then announced that I was leaving the circuit to Deadside to re-join (then following normal crossing from deadside to the circuit a-la OHJ)

[fishermanpaul]

From the other side, I've called long final before and heard, a short while later, "negative visual with traffic on final, turning base now". I saw them with lots of time to realise that we would end up at the threshold together so had to call "going around"...

So IMHO you did the right thing.

[mmcp42]

From the other side, I've called long final before and heard, a short while later, "negative visual with traffic on final, turning base now". I saw them with lots of time to realise that we would end up at the threshold together so had to call "going around"...

So IMHO you did the right thing.

I rather thought that traffic on final had right of way
but negative pile-up is also a good thing
so erring on the side of caution is prob90 best tactic

[Adam]

I rather thought that traffic on final had right of way

It does but someone calling long final is probably nowhere near final especially if everyone else is doing ovehead joins and is flying proper circuits not pretending to be Lancaster Pilots.

If I hear Long Final I assume they have a couple of miles to run and also that they are probably muppets!

[Gertie]

If I hear Long Final I assume they have a couple of miles to run and also that they are probably muppets!

It's either four miles or eight, I forget which. And there's no reason why they should necessarily be muppets - even at an ATC field I've been given a straight-in approach from miles and miles away at a quiet time.

Yes, if you're downwind or base and you can't see someone who's called final you're probably looking too high up.

[Adam]

even at an ATC field I've been given a straight-in approach from miles and miles away at a quiet time.

That is hardly comparable to someone calling Long Final at a non-towered GA field - and if the definition is 4 or even 8 miles away it is a meaningless call which only serves to confuse. In any event most places require an overhead join and if that is the case Long Final demonstrates muppetry of the highest order! Cap fits and all that

[bibendum]

I rather thought that traffic on final had right of way

True, but they are not on final if they are miles out and and trying to do a straight in where other traffic has established a circuit pattern. Traffic in the established pattern has priority as I understand things.

Negative pile up is the over-riding rule though!

[fishermanpaul]

I rather thought that traffic on final had right of way
but negative pile-up is also a good thing
so erring on the side of caution is prob90 best tactic

True, and Adam has almost a good point.

In this case I was actually on long final (4-8 miles... closer to 4 than 8 in this instance), steaming in at 120kts and dropping the gear late in order to fit in the circuit traffic. Had the C152 seen me and delayed their turn to base by a fraction (or not turned in early... open to debate) I would have been down and vacated in plenty of time.

As it was they didn't see me and turned across my approach. I've done much worse in my limited time and sure I'll do even worse in future so didn't want to shout "OI! I have right of way, get out of my sky!" so around I went. The other alternative would have been "overtaking the Cessna on final, now back to being number one to land"

Whilst guilty of muppetry in lots of cases, I'm denying this one.

My point stands that the OP made the right decision in potentially avoiding cutting up an aircraft on final.