PilotEdge Forums

Yesterday I had my first flight with PE with a short VFR jaunt from Riverside to Palm Springs on X-Plane. It's been decades since I was behind the yoke so I made some mistakes. The first one that was pointed out by my PE controller was that after being cleared for a left downwind departure, after making the turn and starting my downwind, I decided to just turn left and head back over the field to begin the first leg of my flight. I was reminded that I have to wait to leave the downwind after passing the opposite end of the runway.

Question: Do I have to stay at pattern altitude or can I begin climbing while on that downwind leg?

Unless given specific instructions from the controller to mantain "X" altitude, climb away or at least level off when reaching the given parameter.

Ex.

Skyhawk 12345, on departure maintain at or below 2000

You can climb to but not above 2000 until the altitude restriction has been removed.

EX.

Skyhawk 12345, resume own navigation and climb to requested VFR altitude

or something to that effect.

This would apply to all controlled airfields, not just the Delta's.

If your flight necessitated a turn back over the field, I would've requested a right downwind departure instead. That way, you wouldn't have to cross back over the field at all, you'd already be on your way.

To answer your question about pattern altitude, though, if it's a non-towered field I'll stay at pattern altitude on the downwind to avoid any people who might be crossing over at pattern alt + 500 or + 1000. At a towered airport, since they're managing the transitions, I'd say go ahead and climb.

I work at a class D airport in real life and I agree with Keith. If you want something that will take you over the field on departure, ask for it. Though I've seen many pilots do things I didn't expect, the class D is controlled so if you want to do something out of the ordinary ask. Also if you have a high performance plane you could easily climb out of the Delta (assuming its not under a C or B) and turn on course when clear of the vertical limits, even if it was over midfield. I wouldn't care if you climb out of my pattern in real life.

Thank you, all. I got it. And right, I should have just said "controlled" instead of Class D but I though the dotted circle around a controlled airport was always Class D. Can you have a Class D without an airport? or a controlled airport that is not Delta?