March 1, 2010: VFR Pattern Spacing

"The local weather guess looks good, and it's time to greet the flying season again! But first, I'd better knock the Winter mildew off those traffic pattern skills."
And you hear those three magic words, "Cleared for take-off".
You've advised the tower that you're gonna be in closed traffic, and the tower asks you to follow another aircraft on take-off leg also shooting patterns.
"Yikes! That bird ahead is taking forever to turn crosswind.........and it looks like the downwind will qualify for cross-country credit. When on earth will the base leg occur?"
So, you're burning a bunch of avgas, working hard to maintain spacing, and thinking bad things.
What can you do? Well, you can full stop and call it a bad day or you can go to another airstrip, or you can get some help from the tower.
Now, you won't find any distances or dimensions in section 4-3-3 of the AIM that describes the VFR pattern (It does tell you to turn final at least 1/4 mile out and to wait until you are at the departure end of the runway before you turn crosswind).
For what it's worth, I was taught to keep my downwind within gliding distance of the runway and not so close as to create a time crunch on base leg - but there are many versions, as there are no specific dimensions to the VFR pattern. I was also taught to adjust your pattern spacing on take-off leg if you are behind another aircraft (FYI, the MFR tower wants you to keep your take-off leg within a mile unless other arrangements have been made).
To be sure, the tower needs to be able to have you adjust your pattern to keep all the other events in a safe sequence.
Where was I? Oh yeah - getting help from the tower. Traffic permitting, ask for closed traffic in the opposite direction of the laggard in front of you. I've had the tower do this for me (without asking) if I'm in an aircraft that works at a different airspeed, or even turn radius (Think J-3 Cub). This also may serve as a hint to the tower to ask the other aircraft to adjust their pattern in tighter.
Section 4-3-5 of the AIM talks to "Unexpected Maneuvers", and, although the above doesn't exactly fit into this category, this section talks to pilots doing weird things without clearance and compromising sequencing and safety.

And that's why it was worth it to post this and for you to read it: Safety.

Let's all take care of each other out there, and be thankful we're not working in the tower with a mic in our hand and our mouth hanging open........