Square CCTS are much easier for a low hour PPL or student to manage. People do have a tendancy to join from everywhere but the standard join in the civillian world is overhead, normally 2000'. you would usually do this to an airfield you dont know or when it is busy. Or if low hours, all the time. This gives you a chance to map out what is below, work out which way you are going and map out where all the other aircraft are from above. Anyone wishing to do a non standard join should take it upon them selves not to get in the way of anyone joining overhead, this would normally be resident ac or an experienced pilot. You can not compare civvy flying procedures to military ones. Remember they have 2 totaly different objectives. CCTS are only really ever flown for currancy or training. This should also be the case in civvy world but it isnt. Soome people do just enjoy doing ccts.
Oh and Vortex Thing, what have you against the RAF? I would like to know.
Also with reference to fireflybob, i do agree with what you say about civvy ccts and the unwillingness to go around but do remember most of the PPL world dont have a lot of money. I dont. If i am flying on my PPL i will adjust my cct to get out of it what i want. Rightly or wrongly, as long as it is safe. However if i am flying military, i will follow everything to the letter and if that means going around at cct height then so be it, i am not paying for it.
Maybe not quite tyhe right attitude and i know it but i bet everyone else who both gets paid to fly and pays to fly will say the same. Their flying disciplines will change depending on who is paying!
i would also likle to add that oval ccts are only at their most effective when the cct is full of similar or identical ac, hence why it is used in the military (with some exceptions). GA airfields tend to have 1 of every ac under the sun all flying at different speeds. The oval cct would be very difficult to manage both from a pilots and an air trafficers point of view. Unless you have different cct heights for different types which is what the military does to seperate types in the oval cct.