Overhead Joins
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Amsterdam
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what other calls would I make?
Flying in Florida is different from flying in the UK and it will not hurt to do a few flights with an instructor before you go off on your own. And not just as a club checkout, but specifically all those things that the US does not have. OHJ, landing on grass, MATZ penetration, flight levels, talking to AFIS or A/G, you name it.
Been there, done that.
I would also expect aircraft in the cct to give the required info to approaching aircraft. This is SOP in France, but may be a bit new to Brits.
We make circuit calls, but 123.5 is not used to talk between aircraft. At least not officially, anyway. All flying below 3000 outside controlled airspace is normally on QNH and we look at the windsock. I fly at a small airfield, uncontrolled. The no wind situation is dealt with by having a preferential runway used in winds of less than 2 metres/second. Circuit direction at our field is left hand on one runway, right hand on the reciprocal. All airfield charts are free download so no excuse for getting it wrong.And calls in french, of course, unless at a controlled field, where you can choose english or french.
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Cilboldentune, Britannia
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172 driver - NO in the US they use point not decimal and hence my initial confusion and okay not point 5 but certainly point 6. Also found things like 29.98 strange at first after hearing millibars (hecto thingys) most of flying time.
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: UK
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I'd say you need to make a call to an instructor (or a very experienced pilot) to schedule a bit of x-country flying with him/her.
Flying in Florida is different from flying in the UK and it will not hurt to do a few flights with an instructor before you go off on your own. And not just as a club checkout, but specifically all those things that the US does not have. OHJ, landing on grass, MATZ penetration, flight levels, talking to AFIS or A/G, you name it.
Been there, done that.
Flying in Florida is different from flying in the UK and it will not hurt to do a few flights with an instructor before you go off on your own. And not just as a club checkout, but specifically all those things that the US does not have. OHJ, landing on grass, MATZ penetration, flight levels, talking to AFIS or A/G, you name it.
Been there, done that.
I envy your experience backpacker... I have only limited X-country experience in the UK.
Perhaps you are right, although....Grass landings aside, I feel confident I could more than cope with the RT differences without relying on an instructor now.
Its just the RT section of my air law textbook seems to be missing the required calls specifically for an overhead join which is why I asked the question.
Join Date: Feb 2007
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I envy your experience backpacker... I have only limited X-country experience in the UK.
But yes, when I returned from Florida I flew two flights with an instructor (one local, one x-country), then one or two solo flights duplicating what I did with that instructor, before I ventured out further and with passengers. And I still fly regularly with other pilots to learn from them, and they from me. It's all got to do with filling your bag with experience before running out of the bottle of luck, or whatever the proverb is.
So take it slow, build your experience gradually and prepare the flights outside your comfort zone and area religiously. Don't get sucked into stressful situations because of get-there-itis, i-should-be-able-to-handle-this-by-now-itis, others-can-do-it-so-why-can't-i-itis or anything like that. But most of all, have fun.
Join Date: Apr 2008
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Well thanks for the compliment but to be honest... I now have my license a little over two years, with just a little over 100 hours PIC. Just last weekend I did my largest x-country ever, way larger than anything I had done before... Rotterdam to Berlin Tempelhof and back. Total flying time eight hours over one weekend. There's plenty people here who have far more experience than me, and for whom such a flight is a walk in the park. It wasn't for me: I must have spent at least double that amount of time preparing.
But yes, when I returned from Florida I flew two flights with an instructor (one local, one x-country), then one or two solo flights duplicating what I did with that instructor, before I ventured out further and with passengers. And I still fly regularly with other pilots to learn from them, and they from me. It's all got to do with filling your bag with experience before running out of the bottle of luck, or whatever the proverb is.
So take it slow, build your experience gradually and prepare the flights outside your comfort zone and area religiously. Don't get sucked into stressful situations because of get-there-itis, i-should-be-able-to-handle-this-by-now-itis, others-can-do-it-so-why-can't-i-itis or anything like that. But most of all, have fun.
But yes, when I returned from Florida I flew two flights with an instructor (one local, one x-country), then one or two solo flights duplicating what I did with that instructor, before I ventured out further and with passengers. And I still fly regularly with other pilots to learn from them, and they from me. It's all got to do with filling your bag with experience before running out of the bottle of luck, or whatever the proverb is.
So take it slow, build your experience gradually and prepare the flights outside your comfort zone and area religiously. Don't get sucked into stressful situations because of get-there-itis, i-should-be-able-to-handle-this-by-now-itis, others-can-do-it-so-why-can't-i-itis or anything like that. But most of all, have fun.
Good post....Thanks for the advice mate
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Join Date: Mar 2007
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Many thanks to all who have posted, interesting that for something so critical as aproach we have such a wide range of opinions on this. I have had airfields ask me to do OHJ (Cambridge unexpectedly did on my QXC 
) and there are airfields that state OHJ as part of the joining instructions - but then didn't seem fussed when we joined crosswind (I wasn't PIC), which is why I asked the question - I would be interested in an ATC answer to get their view as I think all the answers here are from pilots.
I will keep the excellent piece of advice to hand though - that there is no rush to get into the cct
Now can I have some decent weather at the weekend to fly????
) and there are airfields that state OHJ as part of the joining instructions - but then didn't seem fussed when we joined crosswind (I wasn't PIC), which is why I asked the question - I would be interested in an ATC answer to get their view as I think all the answers here are from pilots.I will keep the excellent piece of advice to hand though - that there is no rush to get into the cct
Now can I have some decent weather at the weekend to fly????
