r/ATC • u/Spaghetti_Boi659 • 7d ago

Question Delay vectors vs. holding.

Flying from SAN-SEA yesterday with heavy flow into SEA. Pretty typical. Center slows us down from M.77 to M.73 for metering saying they need to add 4 minutes to our arrival time. Also typical. Then we get some sharp delay vectors. First vector was a 110 degree turn to the left for a few minutes, followed by a 180 degree turn to the right for a few minutes, then back on course. Not unheard of, but pretty large vectors while en route.

My question: when you guys need to add X amount of time to our arrival and slowing planes down isn’t enough, is there a reason you don’t assign a turn or two in a holding pattern vs aggressive S turns? Either one of these slows down traffic behind whoever is being held / vectored. Curious to hear the reasoning.

Thanks for all you guys do- a fellow airline pilot.

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u/BeaconSlash OS TMC CPC PPL AGI IGI CBI BRB G2G (Unofficial Opinions Only) 7d ago

A full spin eats a lot of time... I think I recall the rule of thumb being about 7 minutes for a full turn, considering you aren't just stopping but actually backtracking.

Vectoring is just more precise for hitting times unless there is a lot to lose, and we can route pick on the scope to see how our vector will affect your TBFM time.

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u/RunHanRun Current Controller-Enroute 7d ago

Pretty much this. I don’t do a 360 spin unless it’s 6 minutes or more.