How to Determine Your Holding Pattern Entry: The Complete Guide

What Are Holding Pattern Entries?

A holding pattern entry is the maneuver you fly to transition from your inbound track to the fix into the racetrack pattern itself. Get the entry wrong and you either bust protected airspace or fly an ugly, unstable pattern that ATC and your examiner will both notice. The FAA recognizes three entry types in AIM 5-3-8: direct, parallel, and teardrop. Which one you fly depends entirely on the angle between your inbound heading to the fix and the holding pattern's inbound course. The rule is geometric, not subjective — and the goal of HoldTrainer is to make picking the right one automatic before the fix arrives.

The Rule (Plain English)

The rule comes down to one number: the angle between the radial you're approaching from and the inbound course of the hold.

A common point of confusion: your heading is where the nose of the airplane is pointing. Your radial — for entry purposes — is where you are from the fix, which is your heading plus 180°. If you're flying a heading of 090° to the fix, you're approaching from the 270° radial. That radial is what the rule cares about.

For a standard right-turn hold, measure the angle from the inbound course clockwise to your radial. The sectors are:

• PARALLEL — radial falls in [0°, 110°) from the inbound course
• DIRECT — radial falls in [110°, 290°)
• TEARDROP — radial falls in [290°, 360°)

For a non-standard left-turn hold, the geometry mirrors:

• TEARDROP — radial falls in [0°, 70°)
• DIRECT — radial falls in [70°, 250°)
• PARALLEL — radial falls in [250°, 360°)

Direct covers 180° of the circle. Parallel and teardrop split the other 180° into a 110° wedge and a 70° wedge. That's the whole rule.

The 70° / 110° Rule (How Most Pilots Memorize It)

The sector boundaries are easier to remember as a picture than as numbers. Draw the inbound course on a piece of paper. Then draw a line through the fix at 70° off the inbound course, angled toward the holding side (the side where the pattern lives). That line splits the non-holding side of the world into two wedges.

For a standard right-turn hold, with the holding side on the right of the inbound course:

• The 70° line cuts off a small wedge on the left of the inbound (the non-holding side closest to the inbound course direction). Approach from there — teardrop.
• The remainder of the non-holding side, plus a sliver on the holding side, is the parallel wedge.
• Everything else — the bulk of the holding side — is direct.

In the cockpit, the practical version is: visualize the hold on your HSI or attitude indicator bezel, mentally rotate so the inbound course points "up," and look at where you're coming from. Examiners want to see you actually do this — point at the heading bug, identify the inbound course, identify your position, name the entry. They want a method, not a guess.

Direct Entry — When and How

Direct entry is the simplest and the most common. It applies whenever your approach radial puts you on or near the holding side of the inbound course.

You cross the fix, turn in the direction of the holding pattern (right for standard, left for non-standard), and fly the outbound leg. That's it. No setup, no offset, no gymnastics.

If you can fly a hold, you can fly a direct entry. There's nothing to it beyond the turn.

Parallel Entry — When and How

Parallel entry is the one students consistently overthink. It exists because if you tried to fly direct from certain angles, you'd either overshoot the inbound course badly or end up flying the pattern on the wrong side.

The procedure: cross the fix, turn to a heading parallel to the inbound course but in the outbound direction, on the non-holding side. Fly that heading for about one minute. Then turn through the inbound course — more than 180° of turn — back toward the holding side, intercept the inbound course, and continue into the pattern normally.

Yes, you fly the first leg on the wrong side of the inbound course. That's the whole point. From a parallel-entry angle, the wrong side is where you already are, and trying to swing around to the holding side immediately would put you wide of the protected airspace.

Teardrop Entry — When and How

Teardrop is the cleanest-looking entry on paper and arguably the prettiest to fly. You use it when you're approaching from a narrow wedge on the holding side, where a direct entry would have you turning more than 180° to get established outbound.

The procedure: cross the fix, turn to a heading 30° offset from the outbound course toward the holding side, fly that heading for about one minute, then turn back in the holding direction to intercept the inbound course.

The key cockpit step is computing the offset heading. Outbound course plus 30° for a right-turn hold, minus 30° for a left-turn hold. Practice this on the simulator until it's automatic — fumbling the math at the fix is what trips people up.

Non-Standard (Left-Turn) Holds

Most holds are right-turn. You'll see left-turn holds charted on instrument approach plates (often a hold-in-lieu-of-procedure-turn) and occasionally assigned by ATC verbatim — "hold east, left turns, on the 090 radial." When the clearance includes "left turns," that's your cue.

The rule mirrors. Everything that was on the right is now on the left. The 70° line gets drawn on the opposite side of the inbound course. Parallel and teardrop swap which wedge they occupy relative to your direction of approach. Direct still covers 180°.

The mental trick: figure out the entry as if it were a standard right-turn hold, then flip left and right. Don't try to re-derive the geometry from scratch under pressure — mirror what you already know.

Common Mistakes Students Make

Confusing heading with radial. This is the single most common error. Your heading is your nose direction. The radial relevant to entry geometry is your position relative to the fix, which is heading + 180°. Mix these up and every entry decision is wrong by 180°.

Defaulting to parallel because direct "feels too easy." Direct entry covers 180° of the wedge — half of all approaches. If your geometry says direct, fly direct. There's no extra credit for setting up outside the pattern when you don't need to.

Drawing the 70° line on the wrong side. The 70° line goes on the holding side of the inbound course, angled forward. Drawing it on the non-holding side flips the parallel and teardrop wedges and gives wrong answers consistently.

Forgetting to mirror for left-turn holds. Students drill the right-turn rule until it's reflexive, then face a charted left-turn hold-in-lieu and apply the right-turn answer. Always check the turn direction before computing.

Picking entries by which one looks easiest. The rule is geometric and unambiguous. There is one correct entry for any given approach angle and turn direction. Eyeballing it because parallel "feels safer" is exactly what examiners are watching for.

The Examiner's Perspective

On the instrument rating checkride, examiners aren't testing whether you've memorized AIM 5-3-8 word-for-word. They want three things: a visible method, the correct answer for the scenario in front of you, and the entry flown safely with the airplane in trim. If you point at your HSI, identify the inbound course, identify where you are relative to the fix, name the entry, and fly it cleanly — they don't care whether you used the 70°/110° picture, the sector numbers, or a mental clock face. Pick one method and own it.

What does fail people: silence followed by a guess, or worse, switching methods mid-decision because the first one didn't produce a confident answer.

FAQ