holding pattern

[josh121.5]

i'm curious when the big jets do the holding , does the Auto pilot adjust the bank angle accordingly to get the perfect holding pattern , or it use's the standard RATE 1 turn and gets a somewhat elongated racetrack pattern ??

And when flying the approach the pilots still do the intercepts and give the heading instructions or the auto-pilot takes care of everything ??

[MarkerInbound]

The FMC knows where to be on the inbound leg and will bank up to its limit to get you there.

No telling. Some pilots will hand fly the plane, you can have the autopilot fly the headings and altitudes ATC gives, in a perfect world the STAR would lead into the approach and all you'd have to do is dial the speed back, arm the approach and throw the flaps and gear out.

[SloppyJoe]

Or in an airbus just arm approach and select gear and flaps.

[pre3mhjt]

By default on the Airbus, the FMC will fly the hold so as to establish the aircraft on a one minute inbound leg on the appropriate radial. Although any other time (or distance) can be selected and the a/c will adjust the outbound leg accordingly. I believe the turns are simply limited to 30 degrees of bank. Happy to be corrected on any of this obviously.

[STBYRUD]

The 737 computes the correct inbound track length from the timing that you give it, the holding pattern it flies is perfectly symmetric, so totally unlike the classical holding pattern flown in flight schools all over the world ;) Oh, and its horrible at selecting the correct entry... it varies the bank angle to follow the computed turn radius even in changing winds.