Holding Pattern Footprint Calculator
How much sky your hold actually sweeps: leg lengths, turn diameters and total footprint from TAS and wind — the FMS map picture, derived by hand.
A one-minute hold at 120 kt is a ~2.6 × 1.3 nm racetrack — but the wind moves the whole racetrack a mile per circuit if uncorrected, which is why protected airspace is drawn so much larger than the pattern itself.
Formula
⚠️ For flight planning and education only — verify with current charts, AFM and ATC clearances. Not for primary navigation.
How much sky your hold actually sweeps: leg lengths, turn diameters and total footprint from TAS and wind — the FMS map picture, derived by hand.
About Holding Pattern Footprint Calculator
Pilots fly holds as headings and seconds, while ATC and procedure designers see them as geometry — a racetrack of computable size drifting with the wind inside a much larger protected template. This calculator derives the picture: leg length from time and TAS, turn diameter from standard-rate physics, the circuit duration, and the per-circuit displacement an uncorrected wind imposes. It's the FMS map display, explained from first principles.
How to use Holding Pattern Footprint Calculator
- 1Enter — sensible defaults are pre-filled so you see a worked result immediately.
- 2Read the live results: .
- 3Check the "With your numbers" line to see the formula leg = time × TAS; turn diameter = 2×(TAS/60)/π; circuit = 2×legs + 2 min of turns substituted step by step.
- 4Adjust inputs (or flip the unit toggle) until the scenario matches yours, then copy or share the result.
Why use Holding Pattern Footprint Calculator?
- ✓Instant, free and private — every calculation runs in your browser, nothing is uploaded
- ✓Built on the published formula leg = time × TAS; turn diameter = 2×(TAS/60)/π; circuit = 2×legs + 2 min of turns with sources cited on the page
- ✓A one-minute hold at 120 kt is a ~2.6 × 1.3 nm racetrack — but the wind moves the whole racetrack a mile per circuit if uncorrected, which is why protected airspace is drawn so much larger than the pattern itself.
- ✓Switch units, tweak any input and watch every result update live
Frequently asked questions
How big is a typical GA holding pattern really?+
Modest: one-minute legs at 100–120 kt give a racetrack roughly 2–2.6 nm long and 1.1–1.3 nm wide — smaller than most pilots visualize. The protected airspace around it is several times larger in every direction, sized for entry maneuvers, wind, the altitude band's maximum speed and a blunder allowance. The hold is a postage stamp; the envelope is the envelope.
Why does the turn take a fixed one minute regardless of speed?+
Standard rate is 3°/sec by definition — 180° always costs 60 seconds. What speed changes is the diameter swept during that minute (TAS/60 nm of arc → diameter ≈ 0.64 × TAS/100 nm). Hence the circuit's four-minute rhythm (two one-minute legs, two one-minute turns) is universal at standard rate while the footprint scales with speed.
What does wind do to the racetrack's shape?+
Uncorrected, it translates the whole pattern downwind — a mile per circuit at 15 knots — and distorts it (tight turn into wind, sagging turn out). Corrected per the triple-drift and timing rules (our holding timing tool), the racetrack's position holds but its shape stays asymmetric: the corrections fight displacement, not distortion. The protected template was drawn knowing both.
Why do jet holds at altitude look enormous on the map?+
Three multipliers stack: longer legs (1.5 min above 14,000 ft), higher TAS for the same IAS in thin air, and bank-limited (sub-standard-rate) turns above ~170 kt TAS that widen the turn diameter dramatically — a FL350 hold can sweep 8+ nm per turn. Same four-beat rhythm, drawn on a vastly larger canvas; our standard-vs-half-standard tool quantifies the turn side of it.
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