Page 26 - Nov22T

depicting left and right holding patterns with a clear rotat- ing compass card.
Remember the letters T-D-P in that order and that stan- dard turns are to the right and non-standard to the left. For standard, right turn holding, picture an HSI divided in half with the line starting 70 degrees RIGHT of your heading. If your heading is 360, the line starts at 070 and slices over/ down to 250. You put the T in the 70-degree wedge, the D below it in the bigger 180-degree wedge, and the P in the remaining small wedge. Now put the holding radial on the HSI and see which wedge it is in. Then, for non-standard LEFT turns, the line dividing the HSI in half starts at 70 degrees LEFT of your heading. Which, if headed 360 is 290, and slices over/down to 110. The T goes in the 70-degree wedge again, the D below it in the bigger 180- degree wedge again, and finally, the P in the remaining small wedge. Put in the holding radial and voilà.
Don’t forget to slow down if needed, report entering the hold, and most importantly, start crunching your fuel remaining in minutes so that you know when to divert. Similar to practicing/reciting your airplane’s memory items, do the same with holding pattern entries and speeds, and it will be less chilling when you hear, “Standby to copy hold- ing instructions.” I know it’s painful. I, too, hate holding patterns. But we need to get them right and know when to bail out to the alternate.
If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.
– Lewis Carroll
Loading a holding fix and pattern into the GFMS takes about 15 seconds if the hold is at a published fix, and be- cause of proficiency, it takes about 30 if it’s a radial/DME fix holding pattern. If ATC gives you a short notice hold that is very near your position, you may wish you were flying something slower – so slow down as soon as you hear, “Standby to copy holding instructions.” Because, when flying your jet at 250 KTS ground, or faster, things will happen fast.
When we were issued holding to the nearby fix by RDU approach, I quickly recognized our time-crunch dilemma and instinctively fell back to the old-school method. I switched my NAV from GPS to VOR, set in the radial and checked the DME. I did a quick fix-to-fix calculation the way they taught us in the Air Force using DME and the VOR bearing pointer on the RMI (Radio Magnetic Indicator). The holding pattern was close: 20 degrees to the right and four miles away – too close to load the FMS. We were at 6,000 feet and 250 KTS, so I pulled the throttles to idle, slowed to about 200 KTS and turned a bit to the right. I pictured the hold on the HSI using T-D-P, and at 35 DME, entered the
Cessna
Plug & Play All the Way!
NEW for Twin
LED Caution Advisory Panels & Gear Status Lights
Cessna 340/340A, 401B, 402A/B/C, 404, 414/414A, and 421A/B/C models
• LED Reliability & Lighting Performance
• Drop-in Plug & Play Replacement
• New Cable Harness & Connector included
• 16, 18, & 22-Station Configurations
Luma
http://lumatech.com
• Ten Year Warranty
LED Gear Status Display (Single modular unit)
24 • TWIN & TURBINE / November 2022