PilotEdge Forums

Quite often ATC will request that I report midfield downwind and the frequency is too busy at the time. I was just listening to ATC audio and heard someone reporting base because the frequency was busy. Let's say that I cannot report downwind - what should a pilot do? I know you cannot land but should you turn base? Final?

Absolutely. You are instructed to fly the pattern, so you should do exactly that. Same situation would happen if your radios went dead. In the instance that you’re talking about, just report your position as soon as you can get a word in, but if you can’t get a word in and you’re on short final, you must go around and join the upwind leg back into the pattern (you can’t land, as you pointed out).