Best way to learn holding patterns?

Marauder said:
Or you could buy a GTN WAAS GPS and have it tell you which pattern entry ;) Seriously, when I was learning holds, the mental math that my instructor was trying to teach just wasn't sticking.
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Advice to all students. If the method your instructor uses isn't sticking for you, tell him or her to find another way or to refer you to another instructor to help. AIM-standard entries can be taught with no mental math.
 
EppyGA said:
Direct is pretty easy to understand, but a CFI friend taught me

Nose
In
Teardrop

Nose
Out
Parallel

As you cross the fix where is the nose to the holding pattern.

Other than that the 430 tells me. :rofl:
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This makes prefect sense to me. I like this one a lot. Plus, it didn't require anything on paper, doesn't need an HSI or 430, and makes sense.

Combine this with a mental picture of the holding pattern and the understanding that you should stay in the protected area of the hold and it's a piece of cake in my mind.
 
aterpster said:
Unless that someone is a Part 135 or Part 121 check airman or inspector. It does matter for commercial operators flying turbine equipment.
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Can't speak to that, the closest I get to turbine equipment are just the fumes on the ramp. :) But I'm sure there are a few DPEs doing part 91 check rides where it matters as well.
 
midlifeflyer said:
Advice to all students. If the method your instructor uses isn't sticking for you, tell him or her to find another way or to refer you to another instructor to help. AIM-standard entries can be taught with no mental math.
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Just a comment on your comment. Couldn't agree more. The problem I see with any "educational" field is that there are instructors and there are teachers. Adapting to the student is just as important as presenting the material.

In my case, I found an old retired 707 pilot who gave me some schooling that stuck.
 
Marauder said:
Can't speak to that, the closest I get to turbine equipment are just the fumes on the ramp. :) But I'm sure there are a few DPEs doing part 91 check rides where it matters as well.
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Not to mention some of the participants here might be young folks training for a commercial aviation career.
 
ErnDollas said:
I couldn't get holds to save my life. I watched the linked video and another instructor knew this same method, he explained to me on thier PCATD and after that it clicked for me. My instructor at the time had never heard of the thumb method either so we both learned something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbIw6kdytnU&list=UUPCyMEHOWm2DrxUKEA_zOQQ&feature=player_embedded
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This is new to me as well and makes an interesting quick check in the cockpit without having to look at a chart. This also seems highly useful for those unpublished holds. :)
 
jonnyjetprop said:
I use my thumb.

Really, I use my thumb to help visualize the entry. It's not my idea either. I think it's Ralph Butchers, but Ron will know.

Take your thumb a place it gently on top of the 90 mark on your DG or HSI. Which thumb? Left thumb for left turn patterns or your right thumb for right turns.

Now that you got your thumb out, mentally draw a straight line from the top of your thumb, through the center of the DG or HSI. Mentally draw a line from the top of the instrument to the center. You now have divided the 360 degrees into three segments. The first is the 180 degree arc and this represents a direct entry. The wedge shaped one that looks like a tear is the area where you'd do a teardrop entry. The last area is the parallel entry.

So, find the inbound leg of the holding pattern and see what segment it falls under. That will tell you the entry.

Sorry, it's so much better with pictures or better yet a whiteboard and trying various holds.
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Did you mean "see where the outbound leg falls under"? At least that's what the earlier video said to do.
 
Witmo said:
Did you mean "see where the outbound leg falls under"? At least that's what the earlier video said to do.
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It depends where you stick your thumb.

That wasn't facetious or sarcastic. When I did my instrument training, my instructor gave me one of those types of techniques based on the inbound course. During a later IPC, a different CFII insisted that was all wrong and pushed the opposite on me. The two results were:

1. All techniques of that type became completely useless for me.
2. I learned an important universal rule: the absolutely worst thing a flight instructor can do is to change a pilot's technique (at least so long as the technique works and does not compromise safety).

A side benefit of it was I learned better ways to teach it and I try never to violate rule #2.
 
Holds were the bane of my instrument training until I came up with my own method that works perfectly for me.

I purchased a package of square, yellow Post Its. I draw the hold on the paper along with the different courses (inbound, outbound and 70/110). I then hold the paper up and match the headings to the course on the HSI and it instantly tells me where I am in relation to the hold and how to enter it. Then, once I'm in the hold I rotate the paper around with each turn so that I can conceptualize where in the hold I am. Works like a charm.

I have a friend that's a controller and he said the same thing that others here have mentioned. ATC could care less how you enter the hold just as long as you are within the safe side at all times.

Lastly, I have a GTN-750 and other than published holds and procedure turns, it does not allow the entry of an impromptu hold. However, I do set the OBS to the inbound course and just follow the magenta line.
 
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