‘Airprox’ near Popham/Overton

[Patrick1]

I was flying a microlight on Thursday evening at Popham Airfield, another pilot had what he thought might be an airprox with a paramotor at about 7pm in the popham circuit. I explained to him that paramotor pilots are sky gods who have right of way at all times and I think ‘airprox’ is overstating it to be honest but I said I’d post on here in case the paramotor pilot picks it up. 

If it was you, you have done nothing wrong, you had every right to be where you were BUT if you are flying near Overton/Popham regularly, it’s worth being aware of the circuit pattern at Popham so you can avoid it, either PM me or have a look online.  

For the uninitiated; the airspace near an active airfield gets busy so is slightly more hazardous than elsewhere. Airfields have developed their own systems to avoid collisions - usually this takes the form of a one way ‘circuit pattern’ and corresponding ‘joining instructions’ of how to get into the pattern.  Popham for example, has planes circling to the north of the airfield at 800feet agl so a ppg pilot giving the airfield a wide birth to the north could inadvertantly fly right into the pattern without realising.  Airfields usually have a map/diagram posted on their website so you can check your local area easily.

Having said that, in uncontrolled air space this is all done on a voluntary/etiquette basis and there’s no law against ploughing through the middle semper fi style 

[alan_k]

Good post. Circuits can be difficult to visualise for a paramotor pilot because  we use such a small space for landing in comparison.

I have flown from a registered airfield where the circuit pattern changes with the runway in use so that takes a bit of comprehension of the airspace.