WEEK 5

WHEN     : Sunday 25th April 1999
WHERE    : SPX - SPX in N1219F, a Cessna 172N
WHAT     : Holds
WHO      : Dual instruction with Lee Simmons
HOW LONG : 1.2 flight; 1.0 hood; 0.3 ground.

  Holds. The thing that puts IFR students to sleep on the ground, and into apoplexy in the air! After a week plagued with filthy weather and mechanical problems (broken starter, aircraft in need of a 100-hour etc.) I actually got to fly once this week. These things happen! And it was time for the dreaded holding pattern. I had read up on holds both in Machado's book and in the heavyweight Trevor Thom book. It looks easy on paper. "Piece of cake" I thought. Just draw the hold on the chart or on a piece of paper, look at it, work out the entry and Bob's your uncle. Not so fast! It's an order of magnitude more difficult to do when you actually have to fly the plane at the same time and not bust altitude or heading limits!

  We did a total of three holds - all at interesections. The wind was very strong out of the south, so I had to compensate for it. I didn't compensate enough at first, but later on it got better. After this (which took a surprising amount of time - each trip round the hold is approximately 4 minutes depending on the wind, and we went around for a few circuits on each) we did the approach back into Houston Gulf (a VOR approach). We broke off the approach at 1000 feet and Lee vectored me to circle to land on 13. I had however cleverly stowed my approach plates in the back of the plane, so it was a little more challenging this time. Note to self: Approach plates work better when stowed within arm's reach!

Conclusion.

  Actually, the holds got easier as I did some more. Machado's book really helped; it outlines a step-by-step method on how you get to the hold. The main points are to (1) find out where it (2) find out which direction it goes and (3) draw it. From this you can work out what entry you need. Machado goes on to say that as you get experience you can do this in your head. Due to the rarity of having to hold, I somehow doubt that will happen with most GA pilots though!

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