Flying tight patterns

I guess this video has been out for awhile, but it's the first time I've seen it. It's fabulous!



I usually observe the 45 degree entry to the base leg, but it feels to me as if I'm often still dragging the Warrior II in (is there any other way to fly the Warrior?).

Then I watch pilots at the airshows and notice they seem to make their base turn just a few feet from the end of the runway and seem to just pivot the plane around a point at somehow lose a lot of altitude in a hurry.

The key, I guess, is to be able to do that and still provide a stabilized approach that gives an average pilot the opportunity to evaluate the approach and the coming (hopefully) landing.

Jason Schappert, who does a nice job providing weekly flying tips via video, this week has a great video on the power-off 180 and how to practice it.