When you are cleared to hold, the controller assigns you a block of air- space large enough to separate you from other IFR traffic during your entry and subsequent pattern maneuvers. Airspeed limits are placed in the regulations to guarantee that aircraft entering a holding pattern will not go swooping outside the boundaries set up for them. For propeller- driven planes, the maximum speed is 175 knots indicated, and you must slow to this speed (or less) within 3 minutes prior to crossing the holding fix. Even with a strong tailwind, 175 knots will see you safely through the entry and the holding pattern.
If your airplane is powered by turbojets (that is, no propellors), you may increase the maximum speed: 200 knots up to 6000 feet, 210 knots between 6000 and 14,000 feet, and 230 knots above 14,000 feet (all indicated airspeeds, of course). In any event, be at or below the maximum holding speed before arrival at the fix.
There is one more variable in this airspace guarantee, and that is the angle of bank. If all aircraft observe the maximum holding airspeeds, the lateral displacement during turns will depend on how rapidly those turns are accomplished. Therefore, during the entry and while holding, accomplish your turns at the standard rate—3 degrees per second— unless that rate would require an abnormal angle of bank. It’s easy to figure out why you might want to cut down the rate of turn a bit when you consider the direct relationship between true airspeed and the angle of bank needed to generate a standard-rate turn. You can approximate the bank angle by this rule of thumb: Divide the true airspeed (in knots) by 10, add 5, and you’re pretty close to the necessary bank. (Applying this to an actual situation, a jetliner flying at 600 knots TAS would have to be racked into a 65-degree bank to turn at standard rate. Although the airplanes can take it, people would complain—American industry builds 2-g airplanes, but not 2-g passengers.) When high true airspeed is
Chapter Thirteen
involved, bank not more than 30 degrees or whatever’s normal for your autopilot/flight director.
It’s “Four T” Time Again
Approaching Big Piney VOR the CDI will begin to dance a bit, start its reversal, and when the TO-FROM indicator shows FROM, two things occur simultaneously; you have arrived at the holding fix and, for reporting purposes, you are in the holding pattern. Note the time as you pass the holding fix, turn to the outbound heading, throttle back to holding airspeed, and after all this is done, talk; you owe ATC a report of the time and altitude entering the holding pattern. There’s no need to rush this report to the controller because you’re doing exactly what’s expected of you, but when you are established on the out- bound heading and everything is under control, report: “Salt Lake Center, Barnburner 1234 Alpha, Big Piney at three two [ the time you first crossed the fix], holding at one zero thousand.”
Slow down in the holding pattern because you’re going to be fly- ing around in circles for a while, and it doesn’t make good sense to burn up more fuel than necessary. Next time you’re under the hood, try several power combinations and determine a comfortable holding airspeed for your airplane; make it a tradeoff between ease of han- dling and economy.
In the time it has taken to read this, you will have turned out- bound and accomplished the four Ts, so in the piece of a minute you have left before turning inbound, rotate the OBS to the holding course (304 degrees) and you are ready to turn inbound to the hold- ing fix.
Executing standard-rate turns during the teardrop and direct entry maneuvers in a no-wind situation should put you on the holding course when you roll out of the turn toward the station. The parallel entry sets you up for a 45-degree “cut” on the inbound course, but the gods who rule the atmosphere have seldom been known to bless pilots in holding patterns with calm winds, and the disorientation caused by wind drift can be significant. A clue to your position and the wind factor you’re fighting shows up during the turn inbound, when your heading is 45 degrees from the holding course (in the example, 259 degrees). If at this point the CDI has not begun to move from its full left position, stop the turn and hold 259 degrees until the needle comes alive (see Table 13-1).
In this case, there is obviously a westerly component to the wind, and it has drifted you east while flying the outbound leg. Should the 172
CDI start sliding toward center while you’re turning through 259 de- grees, keep turning and you’ll roll out on or very close to the course. Movement of the CDI earlier than the 45-degree point in the turn is a signal to increase the rate of turn (30 degrees of bank is plenty) and prepare to correct for an easterly wind.
These three situations and their solutions at the 45-degree point of the inbound turn will work only if the OBS is set on the holding course, which will cause the CDI to always be displaced toward the holding course.