If you're using approach plates that depict the holding pattern & its sectors eg Australian Jepps or DAPs, hold the page against the DI/HSI/RMI with the top of the page aligned with north on the instrument.

An (imaginary) vertical line down from the holding fix is the reciprocal of the heading you are currently using to get to, and cross, the fix during the hold entry. This line will be in the appropriate sector for the hold entry.


[This message has been edited by Tinstaafl (edited 21 January 2001).]

Wycombe, have you done your IMC Rating test yet? What happened?

Hew,

My test was booked for last Thursday, but the morning sortie (focussed on ILS's) didn't go well enough for me to be considered ready (although on previous trips another Instructor considered I was).

In the end, I know I wasn't up to the mark (the needles don't lie), and was quite cross with myself about it.

Will be doing a bit more practice, both in the air and on the MSFS, over the next few weeks, to try to get it sorted!

Thanks for asking!

Cheers
Wycombe

Tcas climb ... I'd be requesting a vector coz I figure that, if he's busy then I'm also gunna be busy trying to figure my entry, my latest divert time, my aircraft configuration ... oh, yeh, and what the heck I'll tell my pax!

On a more general side to this discussion, let's not get too side-tracked about what constitutes law or otherwise. It's certainly true that the Pans Ops document itself is merely a collection of recommendations concerning instrument procedure design. This is my area of expertise and ahs been for the last 10 years.

Pans Ops actually becomes law when the country you're in implements it. You will then find all sorts of words in your AIP (or equivalent document) about it.

But lets get down to cases. The fact is that the protection area for a holding pattern is based on the expectation that the pilot will use the appropriate sector entry procedure. If you start inventing your own entry method, be aware that your aircraft may leave the protected area.

I know this is a bit far-fetched in a slow GA type aircraft of the type used in training, but remember that some holding patterns can be speed restricted to avoid an overlap into an adjacent control zone, restricted area or whatever. Be particularly aware when the approach itself is restricted to aircraft in Categories A and B... an invented entry method could see you way outside the primary protection area for the pattern.

Yes, there is more protection area beyond that and, unless wind velocity is really strong, yo aren't likely to get into too much trouble. But, in most countries where Pans Ops is implemented, secondary protection area is allowed to overlap into other airspace. So, if you use your own entry method -- and especially if you then stuff it up -- there's a real chance that your aircraft will exit the primary protection area.

Of course, in some parts of the world, there can be far more serious consequences -- like bloodey big mountains to run into! That's the sort of thing that could ruin your whole day!

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Once a king, always a king.
But once a nite's barely adequate!