[Mz Hedy]

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All this whataboutery - what's the actual point you're making?

The core of it goes back to @Adrians Krauklis. His original post comments that he's only ever seen a diagram showing a OHJ from live side - the very one that's in various CAA publications that people have quoted.

Until TopCat's excellent representation of his real-world example, I've not seen anything else (other than some US stuff , eg 45º joins into downwind, which we aren't supposed to do in the UK). To be honest, most of the other diagrams my favourite search engine finds are people's representations in a forum discussion of the subject, not published by any officialdom. The only other representations I've seen of the OP's question are ones that I've put up on the whiteboard myself in the distant past.

Purely personally I'm with JAFO in his short post, other than when flying non-radio into an unmanned private strip , which I haven't done in a couple of decades.

The abc bit of my post that's been criticised was actually a semi-serious attempt to put together a generic textual description of an overhead join from an arbtrary direction into a field with no other means of identifying runway in use beyond windsock and perhaps a signal square.

Nowadays with radios, Safetycom, and mobile phones the overhead join is mostly one of those things, like the whizzwheel, that student pilots in the UK need to know about but rarely, if ever, use once qualified.

Sorry I rattled cages - not my intent. Mea culpa.

Edit: if Pilot magazine can be classed as an offical source, G***le found me this article.
Edit2: CAP413 Chapter 4 para 4.7 gives a more succint description than I did, but the associated figure still presumes a live side join and that's not the point of the OP's question.

[TopCat]

Sorry I rattled cages - not my intent. Mea culpa.

More over the weekend but for now...

Never feel the need to apologise for rattling cages. This place would be boring AF except for rattled cages.

[Paul_Sengupta]

Nowadays with radios, Safetycom, and mobile phones the overhead join is mostly one of those things, like the whizzwheel, that student pilots in the UK need to know about but rarely, if ever, use once qualified.

It depends how busy a place is. If it's quiet, by all means do a direct join into the circuit. But if it starts getting busier, the OHJ is a great way of sequencing people into the circuit as it gives you the option of where to slot in behind the aircraft in front.

[Mz Hedy]

True, that's an option: my usual action in such a case is to loiter a few miles away until the radio goes quiet - I get visions of a cluster of aircraft flying around in circles 1000' above the circuit like bees round a honey pot.

[Paul_Sengupta]

I get visions of a cluster of aircraft flying around in circles 1000' above the circuit like bees round a honey pot.

Shoreham or Gloucester on a nice day. Or any busy fly-in! Not the LAA rally, that has its "overhead" join offset round a lake...

[Mz Hedy]

Seems I should get out more

[Crash one]

I think the thing that is missing here, comparing the OHJ to a roundabout, you do not join by heading for the centre of the circle and then turn left then right as you might on the road, you join at a tangent to the periphery of the circle in a turn to follow the radius in the circuit direction. Therefore from any direction north, south, east, west or anything in between.

[Irv Lee]

@Crash one Radius ? Circumference !

[Danny]

Agree with crash one. As a student it became very clear to me that all I ever had to do on sighting the airfield was to alter my heading such that the airfield appeared just to the left of the nose (for a left hand circuit) and keep it there as I got closer, then on arrival at the PERIMETER, circle around the overhead in a left hand direction until I flew over the numbers I intended to land on. This is where I reduce power and start my curving deadside descent. It's also important to remember not to feel committed to descend deadside if traffic is not playing ball. You can circle around the "aerial roundabout" till you need to land for fuel!
Placing the airfield on the correct side of the nose on approach gets rid of all notions of different procedures for different directions.

[TopCat]

Placing the airfield on the correct side of the nose on approach gets rid of all notions of different procedures for different directions.

This is one of the main reasons the OHJ has always been my preferred join almost everywhere.

It's the easiest way of navigating visually to the field, and it makes positioning an absolute doddle.

Compared with, say a downwind join, which requires you to be able to see the field from quite a long way away, and sort out the route and the descent to circuit height while avoiding all the villages and other noise sensitive areas - all the while attempting to see all the other traffic doing the same thing.

Some of which will be lost in ground clutter as it's below, and some of which won't as it's above.

And all without any sight of the runway you're landing on until you get to short final.

Sky Demon has made positioning for non-OHJs easier, of course, but head down is a Really Bad Idea when entering the circuit. Of course at a familiar field when it's quiet, it makes no difference how you do it, but there are so many advantages elsewhere of the OHJ that I've never understood why people don't like it.

[JAFO]

Of course at a familiar field when it's quiet, it makes no difference how you do it, but there are so many advantages elsewhere of the OHJ that I've never understood why people don't like it.

Perhaps it's just the way we've been taught or the places we've operated from. I learned initially at a fairly large airport where ATC instructed you to join downwind, base or whatever. Later I operated from a parachuting field where they didn't like OHJs. I don't think anybody has ever explained it as succintly as @Danny did. Maybe I can learn to love them, I can certainly see your points.

I've only really flown in the UK, does anywhere else use the OHJ?

[TopCat]

I don't think anybody has ever explained it as succintly as @Danny did.

Indeed. I've spent the last thirty years visualising the circuit from a distance as I approach the airfield, identifying the dead side and where I therefore want to go crosswind, and aiming for the appropriate edge of the field.

And never once noticed that the edge to aim at depends only on the circuit direction.

I find the 3D visualisation quite easy, which I guess is why I've never thought to find an easier way of doing it.

But I'm blown away by the simplicity of @Danny's observation, and if he worked that out for himself when he was a student, I'm slightly in awe.

No excuse for those that don't like them now

[MichaelP]

I've only really flown in the UK, does anywhere else use the OHJ?

Yes.

Always better to join overhead an uncontrolled field whilst announcing your intentions on the radio.
Even if there is no reported traffic it is always better to check the field from above and take notice of any obstructions and hazards before landing.

In Britain you descend dead side and cross the upwind end of the runway.
In old airmanship rules aircraft taking off should not be above 500 feet AGL before they cross the aerodrome perimeter. Some high performance aircraft can be seen to ignore this rule so beware.
In North America you descend on the dead side and cross midfield, over the centre of the active runway to join mid down wind.
In the USA they often join on a forty five degree angle to the downwind from somewhere out there! This is considered dangerous in most countries and is illegal. You can be prosecuted for doing it.

Most important is to have the speed to see.
In other words slow down to a reasonable speed that allows you to assess the traffic. This may be 80 knots...
If you’re flying a higher performance aeroplane then a stage of flap (approach flap) may give you a better view ahead.

With experience you can develop a mental picture of the traffic around you from the radio calls, but this also relies on the accuracy of their position reports.
Take note of the types as well... A J3 Cub ahead of you is worth noting... An equally slow L4 Cub might be inconveniently painted in camouflage.

Avoid straight in approaches to uncontrolled unfamiliar aerodromes. You never want to arrive to a surprise.

[MichaelP]

I have seen, and I have asked...
I’ve asked a passenger how the pilot approached the uncontrolled field...

It seems that straight in approaches are the preferred method by many experienced aviators.
This is appalling to me, I who has taught my students to prefer an overhead join to an uncontrolled airfield.

Pilots rely on what they hear on the radio, and on EC, traffic systems.
They also rely on the weather... Poorer conditions mean less likelihood of small VFR recreational flyers being in the air, they think.

I observed the little non radio aeroplane floating around the circuit and I thought about the high speed entry into that same circuit I witnessed on a poor weather day.

So it is important that you keep your eyes open, and do not expect the experienced person flying the perhaps expensive aeroplane to be considerate of your position.

[Rob P]

It seems that straight in approaches are the preferred method by many experienced aviators.
This is appalling to me, I who has taught my students to prefer an overhead join to an uncontrolled airfield.

A lot of the reason for this is noise sensitivity
It's stealthier than flogging around a circuit.

Rob P