I flew in to Popham on Saturday, but I went early and avoided the rush. The really busy time for arrivals is between 10am and 12pm I have been told, so I left my field at 7am and arrived at 8.30am. If the rest of the flying community thought about trying to time their arrivals like I did then there wouldn't be quite so much bunching of aircraft on finals during the busy time, and instead there would just be a steady stream.
I must admit the only time I worried about collisions was when I watched a Jodel landing on 26. The pilot flew over the microlights parked to the left of 21 with less than 15ft between his wheels and their wings, flaps fully down, high AOA, right along the parking area, before turning over the arrow to land on the numbers on 26. If his engine had so much as spluttered, he would have caused carnage among the massed spotters, so perhaps it wouldn't have been such a disaster after all
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Seriously though, there were two or three incidents of heavy metal aircraft flying very low and very slow over the parked micros, when I don't think it was entirely necessary. An extra few feet of clearance, and an extra 5 knots wouldn't have gone amiss. After all, 26 isn't exactly short, and it wasn't necessary to land right on the numbers, even in a Vans.
Regarding the hi-viz jackets, I agree that if they are to be worn at all, then some sort of colour coding would be a very good idea. I suggest the normal yellow for the spotters, orange for marshallers, say red with yellow bands for emergency bods, (fire, first aid, etc), and bright pink with lurid green polka dots for the person with the clip board who hands them all out to everyone
