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Holding entry calculator

Enter how you arrive over the fix and how the hold is published, and this calculator names the sector, the entry and the reason.

Entry

Teardrop

Sector 2, also printed as the offset entry. The pattern turns right.

The working

  1. Arrival track = the reciprocal of radial 140, which is 320 degrees. A radial is measured away from the station, so approaching inbound on it you are tracking its reciprocal.
  2. The hold is published on radial 325, so the inbound course is its reciprocal, 145 degrees.
  3. Arrival track 320 against inbound course 145 gives 175 degrees, and the pattern turns right.
  4. That falls in sector 2, which is the teardrop entry.
  5. This arrival is within 5 degrees of a sector edge. Inside that buffer either of the two entries is flyable and acceptable, and the exam wants the one the sector table gives, which is the teardrop entry.

boundary case

This arrival is within 5 degrees of a sector edge.

ICAO allows a 5 degree buffer on each side of every sector boundary, so inside it either of the two entries is flyable and neither is unsafe. The exam still wants a single answer, and the single answer is the one the sector table gives, which is the teardrop entry above.

Direct Teardrop Parallel

The fix is the dot. The solid line is the track you arrive on, the dashed line is the inbound course of the hold, and the shaded wedge is the sector that arrival falls in.

A holding leg is the inbound course and a radial is measured away from the station, so leg 330 and radial 330 are holds whose inbound courses are 180 degrees apart. Read the stem for which one it gave you before anything else.

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