Stick around long enough and you will find many things like this -
crap that doesn't amount to a hill of beans to ATC but anal-retentive
instructors and examiners hold sacred. Other examples are
parallel-teardrop-direct entries and racetrack patterns with one
minute inbound legs. There are many more. They are passed from
generation to generation, no matter how much things change.

With experience, you will be able to separate the crap from the
meaningful. Attend lots of Wings meetings whenever ATC controllers
are present and talk to them. Take what you hear from instructors
with a grain of salt. Most of them (especially the young ones) are
Typhoid Marys.








On Mon, 1 Oct 2007 11:44:30 -0700, "Dennis Johnson"
wrote:

With help from the people on this newsgroup, I'm happy to announce that I
passed my IPC!

One thing that came up on my flight was that I didn't announce that I was
entering holding and my altitude.

The 2006 AIM 5-3-3 a. 1. (f) requires reporting to ATC, whether in radar
contact or not, "The time and altitude...upon reaching a holding fix..."

However, the FAA's "Instrument Flying Handbook" FAA-H-8083-15, dated 2001,
says on page10-8 that a report entering holding is not required if in radar
contact.

Obviously, they contradict each other. I told the instructor pilot that I
had chosen to go with the "Instrument Flying Handbook" version and not make
a report to ATC because it seemed to me that if I was in radar contact, the
controller would see it happening.

So, what do you think? Which FAA book is wrong? Why does the controller
need reminding that I'm entering holding when I'm in radar contact?

Thanks,
Dennis