The above illustration shows the “easy” approach to the overhead from the live side.
An approach from the dead side would involve another 180 degree turn over the live side, before descending deadside.
Or indeed more complicated (well more turns) again if joining without knowing which runway is in use.
I just cannot fathom how anyone could ever have thought this might be a good idea……
mh wrote:
Ben wrote:
“Once overhead I made my call just to see #3 at my 10 o’clock passing overhead at no more than 10m away, maybe even less”.Same happens all the time with any reporting point or pattern entry points. There is no causality between wrong position reports and flying a certain traffic pattern style.
You are right when it comes to wrong position reports. But wrong position reports + all traffic heading to the same point and the SAME altitude is a problem.
Ben wrote:
But wrong position reports + all traffic heading to the same point and the SAME altitude is a problem.
I guess we’d all better get our own runways 
Silvaire wrote:
I guess we’d all better get our own runways
People who make wrong position reports also tend to fly to the wrong runways, so this will not really help. And how does one join the circuit of one’s own runway anyway?
Obviously the irony didn’t translate. The point was that the track and altitude of all aircraft landing on the same runway inevitably converge on the same point in space. I think the purpose of a traffic pattern is to make that happen smoothly and with time separation.
what_next wrote:
how does one join the circuit of one’s own runway anyway?
When flying to private runways, I make a standard traffic pattern entry unless something prevents it.
Silvaire wrote:
When flying to private runways, I make a standard traffic pattern …
So in the UK this would be a standard overhead join then 
But wrong position reports + all traffic heading to the same point and the SAME altitude is a problem.
It is, but this is happening all the time, too, for instance approaching VFR reporting points or any other traffic pattern entry unless all pilots make different entries. This problem isn’t unique to classic ohj – the very principle of planes landing on the same runway leads all aircraft to a single position at some point. This is inevitable.
To be succinct: OHJ are cool under very special circumstances that are not often met in central Europe. I prefer the most direct approach possible for most of my approaches.
I do like crossing overhead MIDFIELD 1000 feet above pattern height when approaching new fields (especially grass and short) that cannot be spotted from afar. Typically, I fly past the downwind and then descend for a 45 degree entry back to the downwind. In practice, terrain and noise abatement requirements often force more “creative” descents.
I read somewhere that the descent should ideally be executed on the “dead” side and that a tight crosswind be flown to join the pattern once at the proper altitude. However, often the dead side is “dead” for a reason (irascible neighbors with anti aircraft weapons, binoculars and telephones, or a misplaced ridge, etc).
How do you do it? Or do you blunder in at pattern height hoping you’ll hit no one and no terrain, and assume you’ll get your bearings quickly enough to execute an elegant approach and landing to your grass Shangri La hidden to lesser mortals?
I now see there was a long thread about this which I haven’t read in full. I like OHJ in the circumstances I described (unfamiliar short field without ATC). I believe the pattern entry I describe is safe, especially for me. It’s almost as good as a go around in terms of the information you gain.
I don’t use OHJ as a standard pattern entry.
Strictly speaking, what I’ve described is not so much OHJ as “flying overhead before joining.”
PS I see that @172driver has diagrammed exactly the approach I was describing. I think it’s a US thing.
