Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.

which is the correct way to execute an overhead join?

picture A (fewer turns)
9
20%
picture B (all left hand turns)
7
16%
none of the above
29
64%
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1618193
mmcp42 wrote:i for one, am most grateful for all the feedback
not lease because, as I suspected there seems to be more than one opinion


Not so much, I think it's everyone trying to explain the same thing. The only "opinions" are whether you need to get into the overhead from every direction. To this....

Barcli wrote:why the first orbit / circle ?

JonathanB wrote:Weeeellll it's a matter of debate I suppose... ;)


That's what makes it an overhead join. If you descend before reaching the overhead, then it isn't an overhead join, it's a deadside join or a crosswind join.

mmcp42 wrote:my main reason for asking was I've seen the join from the three "easy" directions but this time it's the one I like least


It should make no difference. You don't have to join from any of the "90 degree" directions to the runway, you just join the circle around the airfield at whatever angle you happen to arrive from and then leave it to descend when you cross the start of the runway you want to land on.

If there are aeroplanes ahead of you which aren't spaced too well, you can go around the roundabout again and wait for the right time to then start your descent when you have a sufficient gap ahead to allow the one ahead to land and taxi clear. Or you can follow the other one and extend downwind or fly a wider or slower deadside.

This is what makes the OHJ so versatile for busy arrivals.
mmcp42, Straight Level, T67M and 2 others liked this
By Straight Level
#1618199
Barcli wrote:Image


why the first orbit / circle ?[/quote]
Hi Barcli,

To be able to omit the first orbit (well actually 1/2 the orbit) I'd need to be joining from the live side.
A OHJ requires you to fly over and perpendicular to the landing runway numbers at 2000ft (red circle area) which can be thought as the 'gate' to begin the OHJ.
If I omitted the first orbit, I wouldn't have gone through the 'gate' .

My badly edited graphic below shows the same circuit if I was joining from the live side for comparison.
SL
Image
By Nick
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1618200
Just to complicate the overhead join a little more :twisted: Flying into an airfield with a mixture of circuit directions, and you don't know the runway in use. Do you toss a coin on the way in, to decide which way to enter the roundabout and then orbit for a change of direction when runway in use is decided on? :twisted: :wink:

Answers on a plain postcard please :lol:

Nick
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1618203
Nick wrote:and you don't know the runway in use


If there's no one on the radio to tell you, I tend to fly runway heading somewhere away from the field and see if there's a head or tail wind by comparing airspeed and groundspeed (on the GPS). Then I know which runway to aim for. If I find that I do then have a slight tailwind on final, I'll go around, leave the immediate vicinity and come back in the other direction.
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By JonathanB
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1618204
Or head for the field (probably with it on your left if you really have no idea), look for the signal square and turn in the appropriate direction to join the "roundabout".
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By Marvin
#1618207
JonathanB wrote:Or head for the field (probably with it on your left if you really have no idea), look for the signal square and turn in the appropriate direction to join the "roundabout".


How many airfields still have a signal square?
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By JonathanB
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1618209
Well quite... you’ll probably have ascertained the appropriate info albefore you get there if they haven’t got one!
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By Flyin'Dutch'
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1618219
Paul_Sengupta wrote:If there's no one on the radio to tell you, I tend to fly runway heading somewhere away from the field and see if there's a head or tail wind by comparing airspeed and groundspeed (on the GPS). Then I know which runway to aim for. If I find that I do then have a slight tailwind on final, I'll go around, leave the immediate vicinity and come back in the other direction.


Interesting.

As is the notion that we need yet another multipage thread to explain how lovely and straightforward the OHJ is.

:D
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By mmcp42
#1618220
Flyin'Dutch' wrote:
Paul_Sengupta wrote:If there's no one on the radio to tell you, I tend to fly runway heading somewhere away from the field and see if there's a head or tail wind by comparing airspeed and groundspeed (on the GPS). Then I know which runway to aim for. If I find that I do then have a slight tailwind on final, I'll go around, leave the immediate vicinity and come back in the other direction.


Interesting.

As is the notion that we need yet another multipage thread to explain how lovely and straightforward the OHJ is.

:D

but if it really was that easy one post would have been enough :)
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By flybymike
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1618229
If there's no one on the radio to tell you, I tend to fly runway heading somewhere away from the field and see if there's a head or tail wind by comparing airspeed and groundspeed (on the GPS). Then I know which runway to aim for. If I find that I do then have a slight tailwind on final, I'll go around, leave the immediate vicinity and come back in the other direction.

Marvin wrote:
JonathanB wrote:Or head for the field (probably with it on your left if you really have no idea), look for the signal square and turn in the appropriate direction to join the "roundabout".


How many airfields still have a signal square?

They virtually all have a windsock.
By malcolmfrost
#1618247
Marvin wrote:
JonathanB wrote:Or head for the field (probably with it on your left if you really have no idea), look for the signal square and turn in the appropriate direction to join the "roundabout".


How many airfields still have a signal square?

Popham, Sywell for starters
Default circuit direction in the UK is LH, except when indicated by a large striped arrow on the signal square!
The whole point is that Halfpenny Green has asked for overhead joins for a busy event for a reason, so making up your own version is not what they want. When we have a large event at Popham we have the same problem with people just making up their own arrivals, so we insist on overhead joins. The rest of the year we have all sorts.
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By Marvin
#1618265
Joe Dell wrote:So. What's the procedure when the cloud base won't allow a dead side descent?


a straight in approach to minimums on a self made GPS approach, on SD of course, on the basis that no one else should be flying!