November/December 1999 Ai r Li ne Pi lot 5

By Capt . Wal l y Rober t s , TWA ( Ret . )

Unchar t ed Hol di ng
A I R S A FET Y L I NK
I When airspace congestion gets ugly
and inflight holding becomes necessary,
most holding occurs in charted holding
patternsas it should be. But when it
gets really ugly, sometimes ATC has to
dig deeper into its bag of tricks to keep
us all separated and in some semblance
of order. And flight crews, to do their
part, must remain within
the airspace protected for
the holding pattern as
ATC instructs.
With the proliferation
of FMS/LNAV, automa-
tion can get in the way
instead of helping.
Four holding patterns
lie along the ABC VORs
220-degreeradial at the
10-mile DME fix (see illus-
tration). Of course, LNAV
equipment can convert
this fix into a waypoint,
which would make holding
along 360 different courses
possible. But part of the
point of this article is to
remind us that were still
operating in a predomi-
nantly VOR/DME envi-
ronment and will be for
several more years.
The illustrated pat-
terns are all of the possible holding pat-
terns at the radial/DME fix in our ex-
ample using conventional VOR and
DME avionics. Seems obvious, doesnt
it? Well, if it really were, no one would
hold in the wrong place.
Lets say our ATC clearance is Hold
southwest of the ABC VOR two-two-
zerodegree radial, one-zeromile fix,
expect further clearance at one-seven.
Which of the illustrated patterns does
this clear us into? Pattern B is the
answerthe southwest indicates the
direction of the holding course from the
holding fix, and the 220-degree radial,
combined with 10 miles, defines the
uncharted fix. Because the controller
omitted the direction of turns, the de-
fault is understood to be right turns.
Some pilots confuse the direction of
holding with whether turns are to be
made to the left or right. The direction
of holding pertains to the outbound
bearing of the holding course, not to the
direction of turns. And, of course, the
holding leg is always inbound on course
and outbound via heading, corrected for
wind.
I f our ATC clearance were Hold
northeast of the ABC VOR two-two-
zerodegree radial, one-zeromile fix,
left turns, expect further clearance at
one-seven, then the correct pattern
would be Pattern D. The controller
should normally provide DME leg
lengths when you are required to hold
at a DME or RNAV fix. But, if he or
she doesnt, then the
length is 1 minute in-
bound (1minutes above
14,000 feet). So, the out-
bound heading must be
corrected for wind to
meet the inbound timing
requirement. DME legs
simplify life consider-
ablyyou simply start
the inbound turn when
reaching the fixs DME
reading plus or minus the
DME leg length.
I f you are using LNAV
distance information, you
can have a slant-range
problem when holding at
high altitude fairly close to
the DME ground station.
A good rule of thumb is
that your altitude in thou-
sands must be less than
the DME distance in miles
to disregard slant-range
error. I f you were holding at FL350 in
our example, you should use raw DME
information, rather than LNAV distance
information, because the fix is only 10
miles from the ABC VOR. I f, on the
other hand, you are holding at an RNAV
waypoint, then LNAV distance will not
have a slant-range error.
Finally, if your FMS wants to exceed
the FAA maximum holding speed lim-
its, you must get a clearance to exceed
the FAA values. I f not, you might end
up swapping paint with an airplane in
an adjacent holding pattern, particu-
larly in congested airspace. Also, ATC
is often unable to see you on radar when
in a busy holding pattern. G
Wally Roberts, a retired TWA
captain, served as chairman of
ALPAs former Charting and I nstru-
ment Procedures Committee. He now
serves as an advisor to that group on
terminal instrument procedures.
Capt. Roberts also wrote The
Uncharted I FR Departure Proce-
dure, April 1997.