On 18/04/2021 20:04, Rod Speed wrote:


"nightjar" wrote in message
...
On 18/04/2021 11:03, Rod Speed wrote:


"nightjar" wrote in message
...
On 17/04/2021 20:41, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
It must have done at my count 40 very tight circles, before I got
bored watching. It had landing lights on, around 10 miles from the
airport and had white lights flashing on wing tips.

Visibility strobes.

I couldn't see any navigation lights.

Not necessarily on during daylight.

What might that have been doing?

Waiting at a holding point for permission to join the landing circuit.

If it was that you'd expect that he would have seen
that before

That depends upon the type of airport, the type and size of aircraft
and how busy it gets. Most of the holding points for my local airfield
are rarely used because it rarely gets that busy.

and they don't do that in very tight circles.

Depends on the size of the aircraft.

Bull****.

I used to in mine.

Don't believe it.

Flying VFR, you have to keep a lookout for other aircraft. That is much
easier when orbiting (flying in a circle) than when trying to fly a
racetrack. You can orbit purely by using external references. A
racetrack hold needs you to spend a lot of time looking inside the
cockpit at your instruments and at the time. Not a problem when flying
IFR, as ATC radar should keep you safe from other aircraft. A serious
problem when trying to keep a lookout for other aircraft.

--
Colin Bignell