Vee-tail:
Robin & Mixed Up
A question: Why are Brits more interested in exactly following the letter of the law, rather than achieving the intention of regulations?
Could this be one of the reasons we have more trouble with EU regs than other nations.
This is a bit rich (and inconsistent) from you given your previous posts:
Please don't try an OHJ in France...if you survive you may well be jailed for endangering life!
At controlled airfields ATC will tell you where to join. At uncontrolled fields you should have been listening out on French unicom of 123.5 to get proper situation awareness before arriving. You then make an all stations call prefixed with the airfield name on the same frequency to let people in the circuit know you are coming. French law requires a downwind join, joining from any other direction is an infringement liable to prosecution. Needless to say an understanding of aviation French is essential.
I don't get it?
If you have ATC they will give you the runway in use, cct direction, joining instructions, so no need for an OHJ.
At an uncontrolled field where aircraft with radios are operating, a call on the new UK unicom 135.475 should provide the same information. So no need for an OHJ.
Armed with the full airfield information obtained from ATC (or French style from other flyers,) it is easy to position yourself to join downwind at cct height.
Why perform a potentially dangerous manoeuvre when a bit of prior reconnaissance avoids it.
Edited to say that my instructor thinks few UK ppls are familiar with the use of unicom, so they are more likely to do an OHJ instead.
In my experience, pilots use SafetyCom to announce their intentions. At some fly-ins someone on the ground may have chipped in with airfield details but that has not been the norm. The French system seems to reflect this according to your first account (and my experience).