Originally Posted by
atpcliff
I recently heard (from a non-US approach control), out of the blue, "callsign Right One Orbit!". My FO flying didn't hear/understand the radio call. I hit heading select and rotated the heading bug about 180 degrees. We started turning, and my FO asked me what was happening. I told him ATC just told us to do fly "Right One Orbit". He said he didn't know what that meant. I said I was pretty sure we were to turn right and start holding. Sometimes things are non-standard, in many places...
"Pretty sure" has the potential to get any of us into a lot of trouble. Did you ask for clarification of the instruction " ... Right One Orbit"? What was the approach controller's response to your read back?
Cheers,
Grog