Holds

[Mudhen]

Every now and then, I like to practice IFR air work on P/E with crummy wx. This gives me a chance to scrape off the rust, but without having to plan a long flight.
I do most of the air work around one VOR. Some P/E controllers may remember me asking for a hold at any VOR so long as it’s not more than 100 miles away.
If they’re not too busy, I’ll also ask for DME arcs, missed approaches and circling from time to time. They always accommodate.
Sometimes when I ask for a hold, I want the controller to build me a random pattern. I prefer un-published holds because I have to think more about the entry and hold.
(To date, JX has issued the most complex hold based on my position and heading…and it was a radial to radial fix. I think my head exploded.)
Creating a holding pattern out-of-the-blue can sometimes be confusing. It takes practice.
Occasionally, (read, rarely,) when I receive the hold there is disconnect between the direction of the hold, and the instructions issued for the hold.
For example, I want to hold over SLI on the SLI 180° radial, right turns. Notice here that the pattern itself is located to the east of the radial.
If I were issued, “Hold east of the Seal Beach 180 degree radial right turns…” The direction issued for the hold is not consistent for the pattern.
So I thought to share something that I hope can be useful:

The holding pattern is always parallel to the holding radial and the compass direction issued for the hold is always the same as the compass direction for the outbound leg.

The controller says, “Alright Pacer38, you wanna hold?!?!?...I’ll give you a hold!!!” They decide that the holding fix is the SLI 030°/13 DME fix.
Let’s say I’m over SLI. They want me use the 030 radial to navigate northeast bound toward the fix. Once there I enter a left hand holding pattern.
Notice that the pattern itself is northwest of the radial, but the outbound leg is southwest bound, (210°.)
If I were issued, “hold northwest of the seal beach 030 degree radial, left turns, five mile legs…” Here, the direction assigned for the hold is not parallel with the radial and that’s what can cause the confusion.
But if the compass direction issued for the hold is always the same as the compass direction of the outbound leg, then the instruction,
“hold southwest of the Seal Beach 030 radial, one three DME fix…” would be correct.
The compass direction issued for the hold, (i.e. “Hold north of,” “Hold southeast of,” etc.,) is not the placement of the pattern relative to the radial, but is always the same as the compass direction of the outbound leg.

Anyway I thought to share this. Hopefully it’s beneficial.

[RyanK]

It's an area pilots tend to misunderstand, probably because unpublished holds happen so rarely in the wild. The cardinal direction given isn't the position of the racetrack relative to the radial, it's the position of the radial or holding course relative to the holding fix. A hold at the SLI VOR on the 180° radial is south of the VOR (the holding fix), and the clearance would be "hold south of the SLI VOR on the 180° radial..." When you're inbound in the hold the aircraft is located south of the VOR. In this case the cardinal direction provided helps in visualizing the hold but doesn't add any information. A hold at the 030° radial 10 DME fix could be either southwest or northeast of the fix so the direction in the clearance does matter. You're right, clearances to "hold east of the 180° radial" or "hold northwest of the 030° radial 10 DME fix" are not issued correctly.

[HRutila]

The easiest way I ever learned holds was on a checkride, believe it or not. The DPE on my CFI-I ride wanted to share his tips for easily teaching a hold.

• 1. Draw a cross on a sheet of paper. The intersection of the two lines is your holding fix. The lines represent your inbound course towards the intersection.
  
  2. If instructed to hold north, you'll be holding in either of the top two boxes.
  
  3. The specific box in which you're holding is dependent on the direction of turns. With left turns, you'd be holding in the top right box. Vice versa for right turns.

Then it's just a matter of determining where you are in relation to that intersection, and how you will enter the holding pattern.

Hold.png (9.02 KiB) Viewed 4207 times

[jx_]

haha, that was fun WY. your head exploded after my brain melted.

[Ryan B]

Just put it in the GPS!!

I see the GTN 750's now have a procedure to create a fake visual approach with vertical guidance lol - so I'm set - even a visual approach can be flown with the magenta