Mixing with IFR Traffic at KPWT

On a typical winter day in the Seattle area, I planned a VFR hop from Boeing Field to Bremerton, just across Puget Sound. As you’ll see, the weather was VMC, with a ceiling above 4000 ft and good visibility despite scattered light rain showers. The wind usually blows from the southwest in these conditions, but on this day, the winds were out of the northeast at about 10 knots, favoring runway 02, which has a right-hand pattern.
KPWT is a good place to practice instrument approaches, and when I announced on the CTAF, I wasn’t surprised to hear a C172 pilot report that he was flying the ILS RWY 20. I wasn’t in a rush-flying is fun. So I loitered east of the airport until the Skyhawk was on short final before I joined right traffic for runway 02. A lazy 360 added at most a couple of minutes to the flight time and let that IFR student and his instructor fly an approach to simulated minimums without dodging traffic landing the opposite direction.

[@MarkThomas-yy4dk]

I appreciate you letting the IFR student practice and steering clear for a bit, since they don’t have the flexibility of VFR. Circling approaches are always a bit stressful when people are in the pattern. When I’m circling, I always try to “speak VFR” and say something like “Bremerton traffic, we are on the ILS for 20, 5 mile final, we are going to enter the right downwind for 02, then climb over the field and depart to the south” instead of saying, “gonna circle to 02 and go missed”.

[@MrDisneyking]

Video idea: IFR to PWT, ILS 20 circle 02. What to do if you have to go missed after executing the circle to land.

[@BruceAirFlying]

I'll put that on the list. In the meantime: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqfNgmipj7dprrs