On the point of 'sticking to a rigid plan' rather than adapting to the situation....
The airfield where I am training does not allow standard overhead joins due to helicopter traffic and those fools who like to jump out of perfectly servicable aircraft operating on the dead side (although whether you could describe the jump plane as 'servicable' is a point open for debate!).
At one point in my training I listened to a incoming pilot 'request' (quoted due to A/G service at airfield) a standard overhead join three times, and be told three times to join downwind. Even as an 8 hours student I was sitting listening in horror.
To be honest, I am not even sure what happens here, presumably as the radio station is A/G they cannot enforce this policy if the pilot is bloody-minded enough to insist on the overhead join. He would probably do well to avoid the operators if he did though
