holding pattern

1. A usually oval pattern flown by aircraft awaiting clearance to land at an airport.

2. Informal A state of waiting or delay; a static situation: environmental groups that wish to put oil exploration into a holding pattern.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

holding pattern

(Aeronautics) the oval or circular path of an aircraft flying around an airport awaiting permission to land

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

hold′ing pat`tern

1. a traffic course held by aircraft at a specified location until cleared for landing.

2. a condition of no progress or change.

[1950–55]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	holding pattern - a state of inaction with no progress and no change; "you should go into a holding pattern until he gets over his disappointment" inaction, inactiveness, inactivity - the state of being inactive
	2.	holding pattern - the flight path (usually circular) maintained by an aircraft that is awaiting permission to land air lane, skyway, airway, flight path - a designated route followed by airplanes in flying from one airport to another

Translations

holding pattern

n (Aer) → circuito di attesa

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

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References in periodicals archive

Passengers who arrive during bus 's holding procedure can directly get onboard without waiting.

Improving Bus Operations through Integrated Dynamic Holding Control and Schedule Optimization

In one of my first issues of the IFR magazine many years ago, I read about the ultimate holding procedure: Cross the fix, fly outbound one minute, return.

Everyone's got a better hold

Subsection (3) refers to the use of an ATD providing: "Within the 2 calendar months preceding the month of the flight, that person performed and logged at least the following tasks, iterations and time in an aviation training device and has performed the following--" and goes on to specify three hours of instrument experience; holding procedures and tasks; six instrument approaches; two unusual attitude recoveries (with conditions); and interception and tracking courses through the use of navigational electronic systems.

CAN I LOG MY TIME IN THE SIM?

For example, the mandatory tasks on an IPC include holding procedures, recovery from unusual attitudes and instrument approach procedures, including precision, non-precision, missed and circling approaches, plus a partial-panel approach.

IPC scenarios: the FAA's new airman certification standards require applying risk management principles to the instrument proficiency check

Performed six approaches, holding procedures and use of electronic navigation systems to intercept and track courses within six calendar months of the proposed IFR flight.

The quiz

Her solicitor Gerard Sweeney yesterday hit out at the "primeval" holding procedures imposed last month.

Inmate's 24-hour chain hell

In May 2006, we began to develop trapping and holding procedures with a group of zoological experts by capturing 40 white eyes for captive breeding.

Saving Saipan's white-eye