Holding patterns: why your plane is flying in circles
Your flight is circling instead of landing. What a holding pattern is, why controllers use them and why it's nothing to worry about.
The short answer
A holding pattern is a racetrack-shaped loop that aircraft fly while they wait for their turn to land. Aircraft are stacked 1,000 feet apart, and the lowest one leaves first. It happens when more aircraft arrive than the runway can take at that moment. It's routine and safe, and the crew always carries extra fuel for it.
You’re nearly there. The seatbelt sign is on. Then the plane banks, straightens up, and banks again. And again. You’re in a hold.
What a hold is
A holding pattern is an oval, like a running track, built around a fixed point on the ground (a radio beacon or a point defined by GPS). Each lap usually takes around four minutes: a one-minute straight leg, a turn, another straight leg, another turn. At higher levels the straight legs are a bit longer.
When several aircraft are holding at the same point, they’re stacked: each one at its own level, 1,000 feet apart. Hence the name you’ll hear at big airports: the stack.
Why it happens
A runway can only take so many landings per hour. When more aircraft arrive than that, some have to wait. Waiting in a hold is the simplest, safest way to do it.
Common reasons:
- A busy arrival wave, often first thing in the morning.
- Weather: strong wind or fog mean more space between landing aircraft.
- A runway briefly closed, for example to inspect it.
How you get out
Controllers take aircraft off the bottom of the stack, one at a time, and turn them towards the runway. Everyone above moves down 1,000 feet. If you’re at the top, you’ll step down a few times before your turn.
Is it safe? Do we have enough fuel?
Yes. Airlines plan extra fuel for exactly this, and crews know how long they can hold before they need to go somewhere else. They’ll tell us well before that point.
Why not just slow down earlier?
Often we do. In Europe a lot of the waiting is moved to the ground with slots, and controllers slow arrivals down on the way in. Holding is what’s left when the timing can’t be perfect.