Nail your entry!
If you want to go through ultra detailed explanation about holding patterns, I highly encourage you to visit this website and I promise you a headache!
My goal is to keep it simple and concise and since I mostly fly small General Aviation (GA) planes, I will not dig into high performance plane cases.
To safely fly a plane, thinking ahead of it is critical. I personally always prepare my IFR flights before being in the cockpit. Details such as potential holding patterns to be flown are part of my planning. I know even before starting the engine, what type of holding entry I will need to execute and what will be my cross-wind corrections for both the inbound and outbound legs.
That being said, let me just quickly go through the three different ways to depict holding patterns as shown on IFR charts:
The Holding in lieu of Procedure Turn is actually not a full holding pattern to be flown. The goal is to join the final approach course by executing the correct entry in order to join the inbound leg of the holding pattern corresponding to the final approach course.
The 2 others are holding patterns to be fully flown until the EFC time (Expect Further Clearance) given by ATC.
Three different types of entry are available and the choice depends on the direction of the turns in the holding (i.e. left or right turns) and where you approach the fix from.
The easiest way to determine the correct entry is to use the so called "thumb" method which is really straight forward and will allow you to nail the entry like a pro every single time you will need to fly a holding pattern.
Determine the turns in the holding pattern (left or right?).
Left turns in the holding, use your left thumb; Right turns, use your right thumb.
The center of your heading indicator is always the fix used in the holding pattern.
Your thumb is placed at 3 o'clock (right thumb) or 9 o'clock (left thumb) and you will have to mentally draw a diagonal line as shown below. Draw a vertical line as well from the center up to the 12 o'clock position on your heading indicator. Thus 3 sectors are drawn.
Determine the outbound course of the holding pattern, locate it on the heading indicator and there you go: You just have determined the type of entry needed.
In the upper section of the heading indicator, next to your thumb is always the tear drop entry; at the opposite it is always the parallel entry and below is obviously the direct entry.
Practical example:
Imagine the holding pattern you need to fly has left turns and your flying with a heading of 051° towards the fix. The outbound course of the holding pattern is 150°.
Use your left thumb (as shown on the left picture above), draw the red lines mentally, locate 150°: You will be in the Parallel entry section on the heading indicator. You need to enter the holding pattern using the Parallel entry procedure! easy right?
TIPAH
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