Oluf,
But the BA38 crew had a very light plane and "not headwind" during descent, they even entered and departed "Lamborne Holding" descending at idle power.
Is that your assumption or is it based on facts? The AAIB only mentioned that the aircraft entered the hold at Lamborne at FL110; it remained in the hold for approximately 5 minutes, during which it descended to FL90.
Although that would give an average 400 ft/min rate of descent, the aircraft may have maintained FL110 for 3 or 4 minutes before descending to FL90? No mention in the report how the hold was performed. Or does a descent in the hold include a standard descent procedure?
Regards,
Green-dot