When you're learning to fly, you make a lot of trips around the traffic pattern. And your instructor taught you the speeds to fly each leg. But have you ever thought about where those speeds came from?

Let's take a look at what the FAA recommends, what a few of the manufacturers recommend, and how they compare.

Downwind Leg

While the FAA has recommended speeds for the traffic pattern, they are clear that their recommendation always comes second to the manufacturer's recommended airspeeds. So if your manufacturer recommends a speed, you should stick to that.

The FAA doesn't recommend a speed on the downwind leg, but that doesn't mean you can fly as fast as you want.

If you're flying a Cessna 172, many people fly downwind at 90 knots (even though there isn't an official Cessna recommended downwind speed that we're aware of). Some people like flying a little slower, and they start the pattern at 80 knots.

If you're flying a Cirrus SR22T (G5), the recommended speed for downwind is 100 knots.

Base Leg

Your base leg is where the FAA starts recommending speeds. According to the Airplane Flying Handbook, when you turn to your base leg, you should transition to a speed of 1.4 x Vso (again, only if your manufacturer doesn't recommend a speed).

For example, if your landing configuration stall speed (Vso) was 50 knots, 1.4 x Vso would be 70 knots. So 70 knots is the speed you'd fly your base leg.

In a 172S, Vso is 40 knots. So according to the FAA, an appropriate base leg speed in a 172S would be 56 knots (1.4 X 40). However, not too many people fly base at that speed in a 172. In fact, many that we know fly base at 80 knots, which is 24 knots faster than what the FAA says.

Even if you fly a 80KIAS/70KIAS/60KIAS pattern, which some do, you're still 14 knots faster than the FAA's number.

And the Cirrus SR22T? 90 knots is the manufacturer recommended base leg speed. If you took the FAA's recommendation, based on a Vso of 64 knots, you'd have 90 knots (1.4 X 64). So in that case, the two speeds are on par.

Final Approach

On final, the FAA recommends that you fly 1.3 x Vso if the manufacturer doesn't have a speed.

So back to the 172S, the best final approach speed according to the FAA would be 52 knots (1.3 X 40). But if you're flying a 90/80/70 pattern, or even an 80/70/60 pattern, you're still above that speed.

The 172S POH recommends 61 knots for a final approach speed for a short field landing, which is 9 knots faster than 1.3 X Vso.

As for the Cirrus SR22T, they recommend 80-85 knots on final, and 79 knots crossing the threshold. If you do the FAA's math for final approach, they would say 83 knots (1.3 X 64). Again, the FAA's numbers and Cirrus' recommended numbers are fairly close.

Why The Faster Speeds For Cessna?

We can't say for certain, because we don't actually know. But, there are a few advantages to flying a faster pattern.

First off, it doesn't take as much time. If you fly your base leg at 56 knots, and your final at 52 knots, you do feel a bit like a "Sunday Driver" in the traffic pattern. And your speeds definitely won't match up very well to other traffic at the airport.

But there's probably a better reason. When you fly a little faster, you're not as far back on the power curve.

When you fly on the back side of the power curve, you're generating a lot of induced drag, and it takes more power to maintain your flight path. And if you have to go-around, it takes more time to transition from the back side to the front side of the curve.

On top of that, flying faster gives you a little more padding on your stall speed. It can be easy to get distracted in the pattern, especially when you're learning to fly, and a little extra padding on your speed can help you from getting close to a stall.

What About The Cirrus Speeds?

As for the Cirrus speeds, they're close to the FAA's. Does that mean they're slow? Not at all. On base, you still have a 40% padding on stall speed, and on final, 30%.

If you flew faster pattern speeds, it would be harder to sync up with other traffic in the pattern. And that could be one of the reasons why the speeds are what they are.

Flying Your Next Pattern

So there you have it. Most manufactures have recommended pattern speeds, at least for final approach. And if they don't, the FAA has speeds that can safely get back down to Earth on your next flight. All you have to do is fly the speeds, and grease your landing.