Drawing Holding Entries

Drawing Holding Entries

I’ve gotten a few questions lately about how to properly draw a holding entry when looking at a hold.  The process is the same for all holds regardless of position, direction, or if it has standard turns or not. The first step is to draw out the hold at the...
Holding Basics

Holding Basics

  Holding is considered one of the most difficult things to learn when flying instruments. Any holding pattern includes the same four basic elements: Holding Fix Holding Course Outbound Heading Inbound / Outbound Ends Each element of the holding pattern is just a...
Determining Holding Entries

Determining Holding Entries

  Holding entries are considered by many students to be the most difficult item to learn while flying instruments. Determining the proper entry requires situational awareness and an understanding of how the entry sectors are divided. There are three types of...
Teardrop Holding Entries

Teardrop Holding Entries

  Behind the direct entry, the teardrop is probably the easiest holding entry to learn.  Even though it is one of the easiest holding entries, there is still a lot to know about teardrop entries. The basic teardrop entry has three phases: Track to the holding fix...
Direct Holding Entries

Direct Holding Entries

Direct holding entries are the absolute easiest entry to fly.  There are no calculations, no intercept angles, and no complex wind corrections to worry about in the entry. So now that we know how easy it is to fly a direct entry, how do we do it? First things first,...
Parallel Holding Entries

Parallel Holding Entries

  Everyone hates parallel entries.  Almost every pilot will try to turn a parallel entry into a teardrop entry, just because they think the parallel is too difficult. It’s really not that hard, there are only 3 steps to fly a proper parallel entry: Track to...