Hold Me, Thrill Me?

You want me to do what? You didnt say it aloud, but you may well have been thinking it when the controller directed, N12345, hold northeast of XYZ on the 050 radial, 20 DME fix, three-mile legs. Expect further clearance at 45 past the hour; time now 20 past the hour. A hold? Who holds anymore?

Tom Turner

Tuesday, November 25, 2014 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Holding patterns are becoming more frequent in busy terminal airspace, often assigned at unpublished fixes, posing a significant workload challenge for single-pilot IFR operations.
The primary goal of a holding pattern is to keep the aircraft within a specified, protected airspace and at the assigned altitude, making remaining within these bounds more critical than strict adherence to specific entry methods.
Pilots must be proficient in managing holding pattern parameters, including adjusting leg lengths for time/distance, adhering to speed limits, correcting for wind drift, and understanding the detailed information provided by ATC for unpublished holds.
Effective workload management in holding patterns involves slowing down, visualizing the pattern (e.g., by sketching it), utilizing available automation (like autopilot and GPS OBS mode), and even proactively requesting a hold to gain time for other critical tasks.

See a mistake? Contact us.

You want me to do what? You didnt say it aloud, but you may well have been thinking it when the controller directed, N12345, hold northeast of XYZ on the 050 radial, 20 DME fix, three-mile legs. Expect further clearance at 45 past the hour; time now 20 past the hour. A hold? Who holds anymore?

In fact, Im hearing more and more reports from pilots being put into holding patterns in busy terminal airspace. Most recently, I ran across a friend who flies a turboprop-converted Beech Bonanza, a Cessna Citation and (with a copilot) a Lear 55. He says hes regularly assigned holds in the Dallas area. Frequently hes assigned a hold at a controller-defined fix (e.g., XYZ 050 radial, 20 DME fix) that is not published anywhere on the charts or in his panel-mounted, GPS-driven display database. Its a big problem for a single pilot flying IFR, my friend says.