All the talk about circling and landing leaves out one important factor-traffic. While you are maneuvering to land, other folks can be doing the same. At a towered airport, ATC is supposed to keep you separated from other IFR aircraft. But there can be VFR traffic also operating in the Class D airspace. ATC will try to help you with that as well, but ultimately it's up to you to see and avoid. At non-towered fields, it's all up to you. There's no guarantee that the folks scud running in the pattern even have a radio, much less are using it to make accurate position reports. Your best bet is to make lots of radio calls while on the approach.
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