Pace........here, here, here. Landed right on the numbers with your posts.
Bjornhall: There IS another OHJ method that does work extremely well, is ordered, helpful to the pilot & avoids unnecessary turning - the French method.
This involves arriving at 90 deg to main runway orientation & ascertaining runway direction at 1500'AGL. You then turn into the relevant circuit direction & only descend to 1000'AGL once x-wind.
Is used at several gliding sites in the UK, e.g. Booker, so must have sense as this is a scenario where separation & visibility are crucial (aero-tows, low-viz gliders & parallel runway operations). It's also essentially the method used at the London TMA height-limited Denham ATZ when traffic separation on arrival cannot be gauranteed....they tend to call it "an early go-around into the circuit", but in effect it's exactly the same idea & makes a lot of safety sense.
Sure the US 45 deg method also has its logic & is faster, but doesn't allow you to "fly the circuit" or get the overhead perspective on wind/surface conditions in the same way.
I think we should be lobbying the CAA to dump this old WW1 relic & fly what is SAFEST not what is tradition....
We'll be using GPS as a navigation tool next
