I don't have many'There I was' flying stories, something which probably results as a sort of natural airborne cowardice. However, the following yarn demonstrates just how easily a disaster can appear from nowhere. I was flying my Aeronca Chief into an unnamed rural airfield (Shobdon, if you're interested) and had joined downwind, called Downwind, turned base, then to finals and called finals to land. I like to keep a good look out (the Aeronca had nothing to look at in the office anyhow) but even the best lookout can let you down. All of a sudden, a very alert AIS called: "NG (me) Break LEFT, AC (them) Break RIGHT!!!" I did as I was told, looking out of the right window as I did so to see a Cessna 152 far closer than I even like to get to them on the ground. Needless to say he didn't break right and carried on to land as I did a go-round. As I bibbled off around the circuit (hours, sometimes, in the Aeronca) I wondered just where he had appeared from and presumed he was doing one of those silly'bomber' circuits that students sometimes do - or someone with a radio out - but if it was a radio out then he should have joined overhead and kept a good look out for me.

On the deck the truth soon came out although the culprit was nowhere to be seen - he had scuttled off rather than risk a bruised nose in case I was a nasty 6-footer with a volatile temper (I'm not). He was a mature PPL -just qualified- who knew no other way to join than to go all the way to Leominster and take a long final, talking and listening to no-one. He had pulled this sort of stunt before and had just been torn off a strip by the Airfield manager who was ex-navy and presumably knew how to do this sort of thing.
I was apologised to and assured that the PPL would be asked to take some sort of refresher course. (I heard later he gave up flying and went back to gardening or something)

So what's the moral? Well, I was in the right, clearly, but being right is no good to anyone when the last thing you see before working your way through eternity is a line of rivets on the underside of someone else's wing. No, what I learnt from this was that every other pilot is a potential cretin - and that there's no such thing as a quiet circuit.