HOLDING PROCEDURES

HOLDING ENTRIES

In IFR flying things don’t always work out quite the way you planned. It’s not uncommon for ATC to need a little extra time or spacing to control the flow of traffic into an airport. Other times you might just need to turn around and head in the other direction as part of an instrument approach. These various situations often lead to the pilot needing to enter a holding pattern.

Components of a holding pattern:

• Holding Fix; assigned by ATC or published on a chart.
• Inbound leg, segment of the hold that is flown towards the fix.
• Fix end turn; 180º turn that established you outbound.
• Abeam point; the 180º turn should place you directly abeam the fix
• Outbound leg, this segment is opposite of and parallel to the IB leg.
• Outbound end turn; 180º turn that reestablishes you inbound.

Standard Holding Patterns;

• are flown with the turns to the right, so if ATC doesn’t specify directions you can assume right hand turns.
• are flown with one minute leg lengths. Unless ATC or the charts assign you a DME distance or a time other than one minute, you can assume a one minute OB leg.
• There are speed restrictions in holding patterns which vary with altitude.
  — Above 14,000 ft. your limit is 265 knots.
  — From 6,001 ft. to 14,000 ft., the limit is 230 knots.
  — At 6,000 ft and below the speed limit is 200 knots.

Holding instructions can be depicted on charts of assigned by ATC. Published holds are a little easier to fly because their paths are depicted on charts, so you have some sort of conceptual drawing to follow. Many times though ATC will assign you a hold based on their requirements at the time. In that case you’ll need to be able to picture the hold in your mind or you can draw it out yourself.

Whenever ATC assigns you a hold the clearance always comes in a standard format. By sticking to the acronym ‘FLIRT’ it is easier to correctly read back ATC hold instructions.

• F — Fix to Hold on.
• L — Level (altitude) at which to hold.
• I — Inbound leg Course.
• R — Right or Left Turns.
• T — Time outbound.

Example

“N172SP, hold North of the OMN VOR, 3,000 ft, 340º radial, expect further clearance at 2030 zulu”.

ENTERING THE HOLD

There are three recommended holding pattern entry methods. The type is determined by the location of the aircraft with respect to the fix and the holding course.

• Offset (teardrop),
• Parallel and
• Direct

Every entry begins with the aircraft tracking directly toward the fix. Once you reach the fix your flight path will depend upon the entry method used.

DIRECT ENTRY:

first, fly directly towards the fix. Once you cross the fix make a turn in the direction of the hold to the outbound heading. If it’s a standard hold you’ll turn right and if it’s non standard you’ll turn left. Fly outbound for 1 minute, then turn inbound in the direction of the hold to join the holding course.

PARALLEL ENTRY:

fly directly towards the fix. Once you cross the fix turn opposite the direction of the hold to the outbound heading. Fly outbound for one minute. Then again turn opposite the direction of the hold beyond 180º to join the inbound course.

OFFSET (TEARDROP) ENTRY:

for this one we need to calculate the teardrop heading. A way to do this is by using an acronym “LARS30”. Left Add Right Subtract. For left turns, add 30 degrees to the outbound heading. For right turns, subtract 30º from the outbound heading.

fly directly towards the fix. Once you cross it, turn to the calculated teardrop heading. Fly outbound for one minute, then turn in the direction of the hold to join the inbound course. This turn will be beyond 180 degrees.

DETERMINE HOLDING ENTRY WITH YOUR THUMB OR A PENCIL:

• Once you’re navigating directly towards the holding fix, take out a pencil. Hold the pen horizontally against the heading indicator.
• If you’re making right turns in the holding, raise the right side of your pencil 20 degrees. Alternatively, place your right thumb up and ‘draw a line’ across the HI, as seen in below screenshot.

Hold up a pencil running horizontally from W — E, or alternatively place your thumb over East and draw a line from the top of your thumb running through to the other side of your Heading Indicator.

The smaller 70º TEARDROP (RED) segments starts at the top of the HI and goes down the pencil on your RIGHT. The larger 110º PARALLEL (GREEN) entry segment starts at the top and goes down the pencil on your LEFT. DIRECT (BLUE) is everything BELOW the pencil.

• Now just find out which segment your outbound radial for the holding pattern is in and fly that entry.
• If flying at approach with left turns, just raise the left side of the pencil or alternatively place your left thumb over W (in this example).

To correct for wind during the hold, we use the following formulae:

CROSSWIND COMPONENT= 2/3 RULE WIND & TIMING CORRECTION

We fly our heading and add or subtract two thirds of the cross wind component into the wind. Outbound leg plus headwind component or minus tailwind component.(16 knots = 16 seconds).