Once you join flight training school to become a private pilot, you are going to hear the term "touch and go". Get used to it because a great deal of your training is going to be centered on this. Any pilot will tell you that they find the go a much easier concept than the touch.

New soon to be Pilots are quite often under the impression then one is ready to land an airplane at the airport you can pick and choose any open runway. There are many considerations to be kept in mind when landing a plane and the runway you choose is only one of them. The runway that is assigned to you is based on the wind direction. The rule is to always to be moving into the wind and landing as straight as possible. Then you have to consider the traffic that is around you as well which is normally about 10,000 feet of the ground and its normal pattern of movement is counter clockwise around the airport. There are times however you will be instructed to fly a right pattern. There are five segments to the traffic pattern that you must be very familiar with.

Segment one is the upwind, which is straight out from the runway.

Segment two is the crosswind. Here you will be required to turn from the upwind onto the crosswind.

Segment three is the downwind. This will be in the opposite direction of the where you will have to land, but it runs parallel to the airport.

Segment four is the base. You will be familiar with the numbers that are painted on any runway. When you reach about 45 degrees from this point, you will have to turn left to the base.

Segment five is the final. You are seconds from landing and are headed towards the appropriate runway to accomplish this.

These five segments make up what is known as the flying pattern. There will be times that you are utilizing the services of an airport that does not have controlled flying patterns. In these circumstances, the responsibility is upon you to ensure that you notify everyone exactly what you are doing. You will do this via the common frequency that you will see printed on your sectional map. With this information, you simply need to announce your position within that pattern. When you are making your transmission be sure to start it and end it with the name of the airport you are flying into. Additional information is also required such as your plane type and tail number. Once you have done, all of this correctly you have completed the touch and go.

No doubt, you will be somewhat nervous the first few time that you do this but remember it is imperative that everyone be fully aware of your intentions. Watch the runway lights, as they are guide to telling you whether you are too high or too low. Make use of the ailerons to keep lined up with the runway at the same time watching your speed. This is a prime example of being required to multi task.