I was talking to a CFI the other day and we started talking about traffic patterns. This particular CFI teaches to overfly the airport AT pattern altitude, then basically do a teardrop entry to enter downwind. I have read the FAR's and AIM and according to them this practice is wrong. It says to overfly the airport above TPA, then descend to TPA well clear of the pattern. I am just wondering what the common practice is with people here...Thanks!