Holds for currency requirements

Dan Truesdell wrote
My view is that currency is not
just about time and numbers, but rather is about are your skills current
and safe for a foray into the clouds.

I agree - which is why I feel the discussions about what meets the
minimum definition of 6 approaches is silly. But when it comes to
holds, I take a somewhat different view.

In my opinion, the only holds that really matter are the ones where a
hold is done in lieu of PT for course reversal. Those must be flown
competently if one is to become adequately established on the FAC.
All other holds are just a way of being in some defined chunk of
airspace until it's time to do something different.

Taking a few trips around a hold, especially on a day with
a bit of wind, takes very little time, and will sharpen your skills to
the point of not just meeting the regs, but goes a long way in making
you really "current".

The skill you need to sharpen is being established on the holding
course before you cross the holding fix. Realistically, anyone flying
anything that goes fast enough that remaining in the protected
airspace is an issue is getting regular recurrent sim training anyway
- for our purposes, as long as you can get yourself established on the
inbound course before you cross the holding fix, you're good to go.
Going around the hold multiple times is pretty much a waste of time.
If you made a good entry - meaning you were properly established on
the inbound course before crossing the fix - call it good. If not,
exit the hold and do it again.

The hot tip is to simply combine this with shooting approaches - use a
hold in lieu of PT to do the course reversal whether it's charted that
way or not. Recall that a charted PT allows you to reverse course in
any way you like as long as you're on the protected side, so this is
legal. It will also make it really obvious whether you did a decent
enough job in the hold - because if you didn't, you will hose the
approach.

Michael