FAA to be phasing out "position and hold" in the US

Reminds me of a flight I was on last year. I tuned to Camarillo tower
to listen in even though I was a couple thousand feet above his
airspace and I heard this exchange:

PLANE: Camarillo Tower, Cessna 123 at runway... twenty six.
TOWER: Cessna 123, say your intentions.
PLANE: I'd like to take off.
TOWER: Cessna 123, position and hold, runway two six.
PLANE: Um, I'm at runway two six.
TOWER: Roger, position and hold on runway two six.
PLANE: Well, my position is runway two six, and I don't understand what
you mean.
TOWER: Confirm, Cessna 123, you're at runway two six and you're NOT on
the runway?
PLANE: Yeah, and I'm holding my position here.
TOWER: (pause, teeth gnashing sounds inserted by my imagination.)
Cessna 123, cleared for takeoff, runway two six.
PLANE: Cleared for takeoff, Cessna 123...........and I'm departing to
the right.

I gotta wonder how he didn't know what 'Position and hold' meant. If he
didn't have his instructor onboard, he's soloing, and if he's soloing,
presumably he's learned all this stuff... right? And what if he's
already a pilot? Scary stuff.

Also, I was once given a P&H instruction at Santa Monica with a Hawker
jet on short final. I was in a Piper Cherokee with no rear window, and
I declined. Controller had me switch over to ground for a moment to
tell me about how they like to sequence 'em tight on busy days, but
it's my butt on the line, not his. It probably would have been fine 99
times out of 100 with the spacing, but what about that 1 time?

P&H should be replaced by a directive to pilots to plan for an
immediate departure upon receiving "clear for takeoff" instructions.
Stopping on the numbers then doing a checklist is just out. By the
time you're holding short, you should be ready for Lights, Camera,
Action the moment the tower tells you to.

IMHO.

Ben Hallert
PP-ASEL
http://hallert.net/cozy/