Racetrack is defined in Pan Ops and as NCYankee has quoted it roughly the same in USA as in France
Except that in the US, exactly as NCYankee says, it is called a HILPT, not a Racetrack. You may fly it the same way, but it doesn’t have the same name. It’s pretty clear from the discussion here that the word is little or never used outside France – and it’s not used much in France either, because the French wrd is “hippodrome”.
@Airborne Again I am going by the track Peter posted in the first post. Somehow I seem to remember it differently. But revisiting it he flies a parallel entry which takes him back to OPKEM, no problem. Now I think this is where we differ from the USA system NCYankee has described. We would normally, having gone back to OKPEM fly the racetrack. In other words go round the oval before crossing OKPEM and onto OLMAV.
@johnh you won’t hear"fly the racetrack" or “fly the hippodrome” often because it doesn’t need to be said as you are supposed to know to fly it without being told to. It is taught in IR theory and reinforced in the practical or it was when I did mine.
But others here think I am wrong and that’s okay. I’ve stopped flying IFR now so don’t have the problem.🙂
And of course I don’t normally have a problem with ATS in either English or French. I occasionally get a bit lost in Spanish and Italian and German and Dutch ends at ordering a beer.
In the US, this particular procedure, the hold at OKPEM would be termed as an “Arrival Hold” because the depiction is with non-bold lines. An HILPT would use bold lines and flying the HILPT hold would be required. Flying the hold in this instance is for the purpose of joining the procedure from a random direction and would require ATC permission to fly it. “Maintain 5000 until OKPEM, cleared direct OKPEM, cleared ILS Rwy 13 approach” presumes one would fly the hold as a course reversal and commence descent after crossing OKPEM. Other clearances could be formulated to keep the aircraft in the hold, keep it at the ATC desired altitude, follow the path to the localizer, separately provide the approach clearance, etc. If I knew what the term racetrack meant, I would take “fly the racetrack to ILS13” to ask me to use the hold to reverse course, follow the charted route to the ILS and await a subsequent clearance for the approach so I could commence the descent.
gallois wrote:
Despite being told to fly the racetrack (possibly to give you some sort of guidance) you still did not enter the racetrack in a normal manner and even if you had entered, you still didn’t fly it.
With some ATCOs around the world, even in USA you would be given a phone number to call having landed.
If Peter was in the US, he would not have been given a number to call. There is also no requirement in the US to fly a HILPT or any hold using the standard methods of direct, teardrop, or parallel entry. Standard holding pattern entries are most important when flying them at the top speed limit, which is rarely achievable for most piston single aircraft. I have taught a fourth method of holding pattern entry that I call “confused entry”. A confused entry is turn the shortest way to the outbound heading, fly one minute, turn around and head back to the holding fix, using the same direction of turn.
gallois wrote:
I am going by the track Peter posted in the first post. Somehow I seem to remember it differently. But revisiting it he flies a parallel entry which takes him back to OPKEM, no problem. Now I think this is where we differ from the USA system NCYankee has described. We would normally, having gone back to OKPEM fly the racetrack. In other words go round the oval before crossing OKPEM and onto OLMAV.
So you would do a full circuit in the racetrack before setting off to OKPEM. That’s not how a racetrack is normally flown. A racetrack is part of the actual instrument approach (initial and intermediate segment) – not part of an arrival. That means that you won’t fly the racetrack until you have the approach clearance. Once you are established inbound you are done and can leave the racetrack on the final approach course. The only reason I can see for doing an extra circuit is if can’t establish on the inbound track on the first attempt. (Because of difficult wind conditions and/or less then perfect flying.)
As we have established, there is no racetrack at OKPEM – there is a hold. I think this is the main reason for the confusion. I would also be confused if ATC started talking about racetracks when there are none. ATC could have meant one of two things:
1) That the hold should be used for course reversal, just like a racetrack and that Peter should then continue on the approach towards OLMAV.
2) That Peter should hold over OKPEM until he got an approach clearance.
Given the phrasing (2) is unlikely.
Given the phrasing (2) is unlikely.
Indeed, given I was cleared for the ILS before any of the OKPEM stuff. But my recollection is not 100%. I also can’t check my plog since I am not at home.
Airborne_Again wrote:
As we have established, there is no racetrack at OKPEM – there is a hold
Well it depends. There is no racetrack procedure, but a racetrack hold at OKPEM. This is what is most confusing. See the portions of the ICAO document here that I cited some pages before. Such an arrival holding is officially called a racetrack hold. And that is what we can see at OKPEM.
I never heard that before, neither for theory, nor during training. It is only after reading here that I see the difference in the two forms of a racetrack (holding vs. procedure).
Of course I do agree with @gallois that every hold clearly looks like a racetrack for stock cars or horses. But that it is actually called like that is new to me.
gallois wrote:
any idea what HILPT stands for?
Hold In Lieu of a Procedure Turn.
I believe it would be shown in France as a racetrack with a bold line, indicating its purpose is to align a random entry with the final approach course or the intermediate leg. It would be mandatory. In the US, if it is charted, it is required to be flown unless one of these exceptions apply:
1) Vectors to final
2) NoPT is charted on the path or TAA segment leading to the hold fix.
3) ATC uses the magic words, “Straight In”
4) aircraft is already in the holding pattern and timed approaches are being conducted.
Hold In Lieu of Procedure Turn
Petaluma, CA (O69) has one if you have access to US plates. Though the approaches that are in line, more or less, are marked NoPT. That means you CAN’T fly the HILPT without explicit ATC approval – not just that you don’t need to.
