III. The Pattern

CASE I

Port Holding

  • 2,000 – 6,000 FEET

The jet and turboprop port holding pattern is a left-hand pattern tangent to the BRC or expected BRC with the ship in the 3-o'clock position and a maximum diameter of 5 nm. Flights shall be established at their assigned port holding pattern altitude 10nm prior to entering the pattern. Entry shall be tangential with wings level. Minimum altitude assignment shall be 2,000 feet MSL. A minimum of 1,000 feet vertical separation between holding altitudes shall be maintained.

Port-Holding-Fig1v2.JPG

Departure from Port Holding

  • Break off and descend to 800ft

Departure from the port holding pattern for break entry shall be accomplished aft of the ship's beam. Descent to the break from the port holding pattern is commenced by the flight receiving a "Charlie" from DCS ATC. This descent should be planned so as to arrive at the initial (3 miles astern, 800 feet) wings level, paralleling the BRC. Proceed to Section on Recovery Case I.

WARNING Flight leaders must exercise caution to avoid aircraft in the tanker pattern.Flight leaders must exercise caution to avoid aircraft in the tanker pattern.

CASE II/III

Marshal Procedures

The primary tacan marshal fix is the 180° radial relative to the expected final bearing at a distance of 1 mile for every 1,000 feet of altitude plus 15 miles (angels +15). The holding pattern is a left-hand, 6-minute racetrack pattern. The inbound leg shall pass over the holding fix. In no case will the base altitude be lower than 6,000 feet.

Marshal Stack

  • 6,000-25,000ft

Follow orders from DCS ATC into the marshal stack. Make careful note of distance from carrier, altitude, final bearing, and commence time. When in the stack, call "established". Next call is "commencing" when your commence time comes up. Extra points for timing your marshal pattern to match the commence time. Case 3 Diagram 2.jpg

Commence

Upon commence, descend through "platform" at 5,000 feet. Call "platform" at 5,000 feet. Descend at 2,000 fpm until 1,200 feet and 10 nm DME. At 1,200 feet, configure for landing and get on AoA. Exterior lights on except taxi lights. Fly level until the automatic call for "needles". Continue approach centering needles and "call the ball" and ¾ mile. Proceed to section on Recovery Case II/III.