Flying with Humility: The Sikorsky Incident

A Good Pilot Is Always Learning

It is a bit jingoistic, but true. A good pilot is always learning. (With apologies to Jason Schappert for borrowing his catch phrase.) Training for new ratings, managing challenging weather conditions, piloting different airplanes, and flying to new and unique destinations all benefit pilots by expanding their capabilities and experience. Even achievement of an FAA pilot certificate is typically accompanied by the cliched (but nonetheless accurate) counsel that it is "a license to learn". Continuous learning must be an ongoing behavior because stagnation causes our skills to atrophy.

Keeping all of that firmly in mind, I know that I am not "super pilot". There are skills I do not have and things I do not know. When something goes poorly while flying, I first take a good look at myself as a potential root cause. A humble disposition leaves pilots open to learning from mistakes. It is my opinion that, for a good pilot to always be learning, that pilot must also stay humble.

Unpleasant Surprises

Date	Aircraft	Route of Flight	Time (hrs)	Total (hrs)
18 Jun 2023	N21481	SDC (Sodus, NY) - ITH (Ithaca, NY) - BDR (Bridgeport, CT) - SDC	1.9	2660.5

Bridgeport / Sikorsky Memorial Airport (KBDR).

Aviation rules and procedures are standardized to avoid unnecessary surprises. Nobody wants unnecessary surprises while at the controls of an airplane. After 20+ years of flying to 260+ airports in 30 states and provinces, it is rare for me to be surprised by ordinary interactions with air traffic control (ATC). But on 18 June 2023, Gilead and I flew to the Bridgeport / Sikorsky Memorial Airport (KBDR) to visit the Connecticut Air & Space Center. There, we encountered a procedural surprise concerning the most prosaic of operations: the airport traffic pattern.

Before describing what happened, a quick explanation of airport traffic patterns is worthwhile.

Standard traffic pattern from the FAA Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C).

Flying the traffic pattern is one of the first skills that student pilots learn. The traffic pattern standardizes the way airplanes approach and land on a runway. Patterns provide a structure for uniform and predictable flight paths in the vicinity of the airport. It is far easier to spot an airborne aircraft if it is flying where it is supposed to than if its pilot is inventing their own traffic pattern. This is especially important at non-towered airports where pilots are responsible for sequencing themselves for landing without assistance from ATC.

As shown in the figure above from the FAA's Airplane Flying Handbook, the traffic pattern forms a rectangle in which one of the long legs includes the runway. Key segments of the pattern include downwind (the long leg of the rectangle flown parallel to the runway, but opposite the direction of landing), base (a short leg flown perpendicular to the final approach course), and final (where the aircraft lines up with and descends to the runway). Standard patterns are flown 1,000 feet above the ground and require that all turns be made to the left unless official FAA documentation dictates otherwise for particular airports and runways.

One of the key decision points in flying the pattern is when to turn from downwind to base. This is usually done when the aircraft is at a 45° angle from the runway threshold, but can be adjusted based on traffic.

At towered airports, the same general rules and nomenclature apply, but the tower controller has discretion to make adjustments as needed to sequence traffic for landing. A controller may tell an aircraft on downwind to "make a short approach" or "turn direct to the numbers" if he is trying to land that aircraft ahead of another on a long final approach. Alternatively, the controller may want an aircraft to extend the downwind leg ("I'll call your base") to give additional spacing for another aircraft on final.

Going all the way back to my primary training, the basic rule that I follow at towered airports is to fly a normal pattern unless the tower controller instructs otherwise. 

Pretty simple, right?

The Rebuke

On approach to Sikorsky Memorial, Tower instructed Gilead and I to enter a left downwind for runway 29. ("Left" simply means that all turns must be made to the left as shown in the above figure.) We did so. While we were flying on downwind, Tower was not working any other airborne traffic, but instructed an aircraft waiting for departure to hold because "I have a Cherokee on downwind abeam the numbers for 29." That was us. His statement clearly indicated that he knew exactly where we were.

Continuing on downwind, we crossed the shoreline and flew out over the ocean. On reaching a 45° angle from the runway threshold and absent further communication from Tower, I turned base. Halfway along the base leg, Tower called.

"Cherokee Four Eight One, you are not supposed to turn base without a landing clearance." After a brief pause, Tower continued, "Cherokee Four Eight One cleared to land 29."

The notion that I had just broken a rule caught me completely by surprise. "Is that an actual rule?" I asked Gilead in the moment.

"Not that I've ever heard," my instrument-rated right seater responded.

It was a distraction that came while managing a strong, gusty crosswind and I put it out of my mind to focus on landing. No further mention of it came from Tower, but as I shut the plane down on the Connecticut Air & Space Center ramp, my thoughts were spinning.

I experienced a cold feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach with the realization that I may have just done something wrong. Even worse, I feared that my basic understanding of towered airport pattern operations may have been flawed (for years!) and that I may have obliviously committed other infractions over the past two decades without even realizing it.

Research

As a humble pilot, I assumed that this error represented a combined failing of my primary training and my own lack of attention to detail over 20+ years of flying patterns at various towered airports. However, after perusing multiple FAA publications, I failed to find any evidence of a rule resembling what the controller cited.

Foolishly, I consulted some online pilot forums. Rule number one of pilot forums is that no one ever agrees on anything. In one post, a pilot queried the collective about when it was appropriate to turn base at a towered field. About a third of the responses were what I would have said prior to the Sikorsky Incident: turn base at the normal spot unless tower says otherwise. The bulk of the responses were all over the place and included some other claims of rules and procedures that were decidedly bogus. 

Not much help there.

WFC members visiting ROC ATC on June 10. I'm not in the photo because I took it.

Coincidentally, I coordinated a visit to the Rochester ATC facility for the Williamson Flying Club a week earlier. (As an aside, every pilot should tour their local TRACON. I learn something useful every time and ATC at Rochester has been consistently eager to connect with local pilots.) Leveraging my newfound point of contact with local ATC, I reached out to Dave W (Rochester's Air Traffic Manager) and shared my story.

"Is this an actual rule? Have I somehow been oblivious for 20+ years? Do you have any thoughts for me based on your experience as a controller?" I asked him.

In short, Dave responded that I was not missing anything. There is no rule about delaying the base turn until receipt of a landing clearance. Landing clearances are just that, clearances to land. He emphasized that tower controllers usually expect pilots to turn base at the 45° point, but may turn them early or extend their downwind as needed to manage traffic flow. With experience at seven different ATC towers, Dave comfortably concluded, "I believe this controller was 100% incorrect." Thus, I was able to confirm my pre-existing understanding of how to operate in the pattern at a towered airport.

Lessons Learned

The Sikorsky Incident caused me to reexamine my fundamental understanding of towered airport pattern operations. I still think that defaulting to self reflection (Is this my fault?) is a good practice. I could have thought, I've never heard of that, it must be BS. But because I recognize that I do not know everything, this line of thinking would have made me incapable of learning anything new had there been any truth to what the Sikorsky controller told me. It's important for all pilots to realize that they don't know everything. Flying with humility allows us to benefit from those inevitable learning opportunities.

This all led me to wonder how the Sikorsky controller came to internalize and attempt to enforce a non-existent rule. When I was searching the forums, I encountered numerous remarks about towers often clearing aircraft to land once they reach midfield on the downwind leg. Not as a rule, per se, but as a practice. Perhaps this is routine at Sikorsky and the "no base turn without a landing clearance" was the controller's personal extrapolation from that practice.

Finally, the point of this article is not to complain about or ridicule the Sikorsky controller for his incorrect statement. I respect and appreciate all of the wonderful and helpful things ATC has done for me over the years. As an active instrument pilot, I genuinely value ATC as a partner in aviation. 

Keep learning. A good pilot is always humble.