Hi guys,
When flying a procedural NDB/VOR approach approaching the beacon, how do you prefer to get established on the outbound leg? Are there options here open to the pilot or should we be following one defined method?
Assuming nothing obvious is charted and the depicted holding pattern appears to relate to the missed approach.
DMEarc
If you are flying for real, you fly the published outbound track as a heading, and tweak the heading until the GPS track is right 
If you are doing your IR test, then you fly the published outbound track as a heading, plus or minus the calculated wind offset, and once you are far enough from the beacon to get a useful instrument indication off the beacon, tweak the heading until the ADF or VOR indicator shows the correct track. With a bit of luck you will be within 5-10 degrees.
Peter, you mean extend the outbound leg of the hold rather than than the CAT A published QDR from the beacon? And what if hold directions are not related to the approach?
Do you mean how do I fly the hold or how do I fly the final approach leg outbound from the beacon? Please don’t reply with Q codes as no one knows what they are (or perhaps better to say that no one outside of the RAF training regime knows).
Outbound leg…
I use a GPS and fly the track it says with whatever heading is needed to do so. I would never willingly fly the VOR or ADF as primary. You overfly the beacon and take up the new track. This is the same whether you are talking GPS or VOR/NDB tracking.
Agreed re GPS. But do you just fly past the beacon, say for a minute, turn back outwards it on a more reasonable heading to intercept the outbound track? How much freedom is the pilot allowed when say ‘cleared procedural VOR 23, report beacon outbound’?
Without being smart, can we go for a dance past the NDB above MSA and turn around as we want or is there an official way to do it?
It depends whether the PT is mandatory or not. Solid line on Jepp chart.
I would say you do your best to fly it as published.
So as you cross the beacon, you turn onto the outbound leg right away, do a quick tweak on the heading so the GPS track matches the published outbound track, and fly the required distance/time/whatever.
Maybe I am not understanding you. We need a diagram. Can you post a little bif of an approach plate, or I can if you pick the airport ICAO code.
NDB 29 EISG – bad example. Ignore IAFs to east.
