INSTRUMENT PROCEDURES HANDBOOK
 

HIGH PERFORMANCE HOLDING

Certain limitations come into play when you operate at higher speeds; for instance, aircraft do not make standard rate turns in holding patterns if the bank angle will exceed 30 degrees. If your aircraft is using a flight director system, the bank angle is limited to 25 degrees. Since any aircraft must be traveling at over 210 knots TAS for the bank angle in a standard rate turn to exceed 30 degrees, this limit applies to relatively fast airplanes. An aircraft using a flight director would have to be holding at more than 170 knots TAS to come up against the 25 degrees limit. These true airspeeds correspond to indicated airspeeds of about 183 and 156 knots, respectively, at 6,000 feet in a standard atmosphere [Figure 3-31 on page 3-26]. Since some military airplanes need to hold at higher speeds than the civilian limits, the maximum at military airfields is higher. For example, the maximum holding airspeed at USAF airfields is 310 KIAS.


FUEL STATE AWARENESS

In order to increase fuel state awareness, commercial operators and other professional flight crews are required to record the time and fuel remaining during IFR flight. For example, on a flight scheduled for one hour or less, the flight crew may record the time and fuel remaining at the top of climb (TOC) and at one additional waypoint listed in the flight plan. Generally, TOC is used in airplanes with a flight management system, and represents the point at which cruise altitude is first reached. TOC is calculated based on current airplane altitude, climb speed, and cruise altitude. The captain may elect to delete the additional waypoint recording requirement if the flight is so short that the record will not assist in the management of the flight. For flights scheduled for more than one hour, the flight crew may record the time and fuel remaining shortly after the top of climb and at selected waypoints listed in the flight plan, conveniently spaced approximately one hour apart. The flight crew compares actual fuel burn to planned fuel burn. Each fuel tank must be monitored to verify proper burn off and appropriate fuel remaining. On two pilot airplanes, the pilot monitoring (PM) keeps the flight plan record. On three pilot airplanes, the second officer and PM coordinate recording and keeping the flight plan record. In all cases, the pilot making the recording communicates the information to the pilot flying.

 
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