circle to land-which way do i turn?

[paulsalem]

§ 91.126 Operating on or in the vicinity of an airport in Class G airspace.
(a) General. Unless otherwise authorized or required, each person operating an aircraft on or in the vicinity of an airport in a Class G airspace area must comply with the requirements of this section.
(b) Direction of turns. When approaching to land at an airport without an operating control tower in Class G airspace—
(1) Each pilot of an airplane must make all turns of that airplane to the left unless the airport displays approved light signals or visual markings indicating that turns should be made to the right, in which case the pilot must make all turns to the right; and

§ 91.127 Operating on or in the vicinity of an airport in Class E airspace.
(a) Unless otherwise required by part 93 of this chapter or unless otherwise authorized or required by the ATC facility having jurisdiction over the Class E airspace area, each person operating an aircraft on or in the vicinity of an airport in a Class E airspace area must comply with the requirements of §91.126.

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Honest question: Is there anywhere that says that these rules do not apply when operating at a class E or G airport, while doing a circling approach?

 

[Black Hawk]

Unless otherwise authorized or required
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Here's the key phrase. Anyway, a couple points to keep in mind are 1. Be sure to stay within the circling radius specified for your speed and 2. If your in VFR conditions (no tower) it's a good idea to enter the VFR pattern to fit in with the other traffic that's legally operating in the vicinity.

 

[Sig]

Try getting a visual into TEB when it's busy and they're doing the VOR/DME-A circle 19.

Oh. I thought the guy was talking about the OPSPECs of Mesaba, and how he's certain (huh?) they allow circling approaches only in conditions well above basic VFR minima- all circling approaches, not just special use airports.

In which case I'd just cancel, enter the danged pattern, and get to the hotel van ASAP. Hence, it don't mattah. Furthermore, it sounds highly specious Mesaba plays that way considering the airports they fly into.

And if a pilot can't make it work into TEB on a clear day because the OPSPECs are whacked- that pilot must not go into TEB that often OR said company is on the dim side of dumb. Kinda like saying "Jeez, that old Taylorcraft is a crummy IFR platform because of the venturis that drive the vacuum systems- they could ice up in icing conditions." Big picture much?

 

[avbug]

Honest question: Is there anywhere that says that these rules do not apply when operating at a class E or G airport, while doing a circling approach?

§ 91.129 Operations in Class D airspace.
(f) Approaches. Except when conducting a circling approach under Part 97 of this chapter or unless otherwise required by ATC, each pilot must -
(1) Circle the airport to the left, if operating an airplane; or
(2) Avoid the flow of fixed-wing aircraft, if operating a helicopter.

Clearly this applies to Class D airports, not airports without an operating control tower, and doesn't directly answer your question.

Advisory Circular AC 90-66A provides the following:

a. Regulatory provisions relating to traffic patterns are found in Parts 91, 93, and 97 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR). The airport traffic patterns contained in Part 93 relate primarily to those airports where there is a need for unique traffic pattern procedures not provided for in Part 91. Part 97 addresses instrument approach procedures. At airports without operating control towers, Part 91 requires only that pilots of airplanes approaching to land make all turns to the left unless light signals or visual markings indicate that turns should be made to the right.

As this section notes, Part 91 does establish a requirement for all turns to be made to the left in Class G and E, where an operating control tower is not in effect. 91.126 does not provide the same provision that excepts aircraft conducting an instrument circling approach from the left hand rule, that is provided by 91.129 for Class D airspace. (91.127, setting the standards for Class E, refers back to 91.126, and also holds no exception for aircraft conducing instrument approaches in class E to airports not having a control tower).

What these sections do use is the phrase "unless otherwise authorized or required." This is a broad, open ended statement which is both permissive and restrictive in nature. On the one hand, it is permissive because a pilot may determine if right traffic is necessary to circle, but restrictive in that the pilot may be required to prove and justify his or her actions as no regulatory backing is given. "Where required" puts it on the pilot. This might become an issue in the event a conflict develops wherein the pilot's decision to circle one way vs. another at an uncontrolled field occurs. If the conflict could be avoided and the pilot is able to circle with left turns he or she may be left with little defense, and is therefore in effect restricted to the same limitations applied to the general masses by 91.126 with respect to direction of turns.