Holding Pattern Entries

Snowbird wrote:

Well, I dunno Dan. What floats your boat, but it seems to me
that if I can visualize the holding pattern well enough to
tell which side of the inbound course I'll be on and which direction
is the shortest initial turn to the outbound course, I can visualize
the holding pattern well enough to determine which entry I need to
make (no mneumonic tricks, Sporty's gadgets, or fingers on the HI,
and with less thinking. Maybe it's just me.

I'm on both sides of the fence here, because I understand Dan's methodology and reasoning, but I
agree with you that just flying the 'recommended' hold entry is easy in the first place. I don't use
any finger kung-fu or silicon memory implants to fly hold entries, I just do 'em. You and I are
probably similar in that we can just 'see' it.

But let's rehash the 'simple' way once more with an even more rudimentary breakdown. Maybe you'll
find some utility in it. I have.

Think basic here. Somewhere there's a VOR. You have to hold west of it, right turns. Fly to it
from wherever you are. Once you're over the station, fly the outbound heading (west.) You have one
minute to figure out which way to turn to stay in protected airspace. Do a 180 in that direction and
fly right back to the VOR. You're established. No thinking. (Unless you really think deciding
whether to turn left or right is 'thinking!')

So at the end of the day it's a three-step process:

1. Fly to the station or fix.
2. Turn to the outbound heading.
3. Turn inbound back to the station or fix.

That's it. You're established.

-Ryan
CFI-ASE-AME, CFI-RH, CP-ASMEL-IA, CP-RH, AGI