VFR Holding Pattern?

Jaybird180

Jaybird180

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Jaybird180
FAR 91.159 said:
VFR cruising altitude or flight level.

Except while holding in a holding pattern of 2 minutes or less, or while turning, each person operating an aircraft under VFR in level cruising flight more than 3,000 feet above the surface shall maintain the appropriate altitude or flight level prescribed below, unless otherwise authorized by ATC:
(a) When operating below 18,000 feet MSL and--
(1) On a magnetic course of zero degrees through 179 degrees, any odd thousand foot MSL altitude +500 feet (such as 3,500, 5,500, or 7,500); or
(2) On a magnetic course of 180 degrees through 359 degrees, any even thousand foot MSL altitude +500 feet (such as 4,500, 6,500, or 8,500).
[(b) When operating above 18,000 feet MSL, maintain the altitude or flight level assigned by ATC.]
[(c) Removed.]

Amdt. 91-276, Eff. 1/26/2004
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I've never heard of nor was taught in my PPL Syllabus VFR Holding. Does this actually exist or what is the reason for the bold language above?
 
Very rare to see this.........before the gas prices wiped out GA there were some little airports here in SoCal back in the 80's and 90's that were always busy. One of them was Brackett KPOC........running two runways its a little class D along the mountains here. It used to be packed out with 5 or 6 planes in the pattern on the left and the remainder on the right. My son and I took a couple of Cessnas out to practice a formation flight about 15 miles away (VFR) in the late 90's........when we came back the patterns were loaded.......it was mayhem......the tower gave him a hold for the left and me a hold for the right.......no big deal.........just circling about a mile away til they could slide us into the pattern..............
 
My guess is that it applies to the "VFR on top" IFR clearance, in which some VFR rules must be complied with while you're still flying under IFR rules.
 
Rather than give you a hold ,it's easier for the controller to just tell you to stay clear of the class D. Then it's on you to stay clear of other traffic.
 
I don't think a controller can give a VFR pilot (under Flight Following) a holding pattern.
 
When holding is required under VFR for sequencing, it's usually by vectors or "orbit over X" or "remain clear of the bravo and call again in 10 minutes". And to the best of my knowledge private pilots aren't expected to reliably execute a defined holding pattern.

That being said, holds are executed under VFR pretty frequently. The best example I can think of is during instrument training. Without the text as written, you'd theoretically have to change altitude for each turn unless you were on an IFR clearance for training or proficiency flights.

Also, I don't know (and am too lazy to look up) the official definition of "cruise flight", but my first thought reading this was:

Except while holding in a holding pattern of 2 minutes or less, or while turning, each person operating an aircraft under VFR in level cruising flight...
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The bold bit is redundant language, no? I wouldn't think a holding pattern is considered cruise flight, and I'm quite sure most turns aren't level.
 
Jaybird180 said:
I've never heard of nor was taught in my PPL Syllabus VFR Holding. Does this actually exist or what is the reason for the bold language above?
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If you want to take a picture of something, you may circle it without changing altitude.

CAP "high bird" activities will have extended VFR holding patterns at high altitude for hours. The point is a radio relay, and the aircraft needs to stay within line-of-sight of the ground teams.

Direction-finding might be done at high altitude VFR, and requires crossing the same position over and over.

If you had an emergency requiring you to burn off fuel (gear fault?), you might circle VFR at high altitude. An airport traffic pattern is a really bad place to do this.

All this is aside from the obvious instrument training need to perform actual pseudo-IFR holds while VFR.
 
Class B maps have little flags posted over prominent visual reference points with the official name called by ATC for those points. The theory (as I remember when class B was first established) is that the controller could say "hold over smokestack charlie" instead of giving vectors. The bold part of 91.159 gives the pilot legal excuse to fly 2 minutes or less at an inappropriate vfr altitude.
Sound good? ;)
 
My guess is like others have said, "hold over XYZ stacks, raceway, stadium,etc." If you are VFR they wouldn't give you a hold over a fix or VOR. As a VFR pilot, you are not expected to know those procedures
 
MAKG1 said:
If you want to take a picture of something, you may circle it without changing altitude.
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Bingo.:yesnod:

There's nothing in the rule that says, "a holding pattern assigned by ATC." Holding patterns are flown by VFR pilots all the time. Sightseeing, photos, mountain ridge crossing shuttle climbs....

Of course, as others point our, sometimes they are assigned by ATC. I've been directed to circle over a location inside of Class D on a busy day while awaiting entry into the pattern.
 
I was in a Class C and the controller said "give me 2 360's right where you are" (he was sequencing me for landing at the main airport of the Class C. So I rogered and did what he asked.
 
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Jaybird180 said:
I've never heard of nor was taught in my PPL Syllabus VFR Holding. Does this actually exist or what is the reason for the bold language above?
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No, but a pilot can fly practice approaches VFR that may include holds. Nothing in the reg says the controller has to assign the hold.
 
Brad Z said:
No, but a pilot can fly practice approaches VFR that may include holds. Nothing in the reg says the controller has to assign the hold.
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I think that's the answer to the OP's question right there.

I flew a practice hold under VFR during my BFR a couple of days ago. And even if it's not for practice, if ATC tells a VFR aircraft to hold somewhere, there's no particular requirement on how a VFR aircraft should do it, but flying it like an IFR holding pattern is one of the options open to the pilot.

By the way, I assume that the "two minutes or less" in the reg is a reference to the leg length.
 
Here at our European Class C airport it's common while on a VFR flight to be told to join our pre-defined South / North holding if there are a lot of big birds landing.
 
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