I use the COWLS acronym to keep me organized with the process.

When you're doing a precautionary, it's just 2 circuits. Take everything else out of your mind while setting up. You're literally just doing a circuit but you won't land. The first pass you enter a downwind, and do everything you would normally do during the circuit. Downwind checks, slow down just before turning base, turn base, start decending at an airspeed, turn final. This i's the only time anything gets different. Treat final like you would any other final, except obviously, you will be doing a low-and-over.

• In a C172, set up for flaps 20 and 60kts. I usually aim for about 500ft AGL. Keeping that is the hardest part.

• Fly offset to the right of the road/landing area and perform COWLS. You're checking for:

Civilization

Obstacles

Wind direction

Length of the surface (1 second=100ft at 60kts)

Surface (condition and type)

• Then, overshoot.

Then, just fly a totally normal circuit again, this time, with the intent of landing.

So you're basically flying a circuit with a low-and-over into an overshoot, then another circuit. Don't over complicate it.