X-PLANENAVIGATION DATA FOR PUBLISHED HOLDINGS (EARTH_HOLD.DAT) FILE SPECIFICATIONVERSION 1140
REVISION HISTORY
11 Dec 2018

Initial Specification

APPLICABILITY
This specification (XP HOLD1140) is supported in X-Plane 11.40 and later. It is identified in the data files as “1140 Version” on the second row of the file.
No prior specification for this type of file exists.

OVERVIEW & SCOPE
This specification defines all published holdings (those not part of terminal procedures) in X-Plane (EP-records in ARINC424 data). The effect of this data is to:•Allow default holding pattern parameters being loaded into the FMS when creating a holding pattern at a waypoint not part of a terminal procedure

BASIC CONCEPTS•

A holding can only be defined at a point that is either listed in the enroute portions of earth_nav.dat or earth_fix.dat

FILE CHARACTERISTICS
The earth_hold.dat files are plain text files:••

Fields in the data can be separated by one or more white space (space, tab) characters.
By default, the files are generated so that columns of data are consistently aligned, but this is not required.

X-Plane Hold Data (earth_hold.dat) File Specification

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FILE STRUCTURE
In common with most other X-Plane data file specification, header rows of data define the origin (“I” = Intel byte order or “A” = Motorola byte order) of aparticular copy of a file and define the file specification version. The file specification must include the four-digit AIRAC cycle date (e.g. 1602 for the AIRAC cycle
effective 4-Feb-16, refer to https://www.nm.eurocontrol.int/RAD/common/airac_dates.html for cycle dates), an 8-digit build date and the reference to thisdocument. A copyright message may be added, while the total length of this line is not to exceed 1024 characters:
I
1140 Version - data cycle 1602, build 20160204, metadata HoldXP1140. Copyright © 2016, Robin A. Peel (robin@xsquawkbox.net)...

Subsequent rows of data define each waypoint. Sequence is not important, but by default this file is sorted alphabetically by fix name.
The file is terminated by a ‘99’:
99

ROW CODES
Unlike other data files, no ‘row codes’ are used for hold data, since the file contains just one type of data.

EXAMPLE DATA
Here is example data for holdings:
LBU ED ENRTLBV ED ENRT

33178.0
110.0

1.0
1.0

X-Plane Hold Data (earth_hold.dat) File Specification

0.0 L
0.0 R

5000
4000

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DEFINITION OF DATA FIELDS
Each column in each row is defined below, using the example data from shown above. Note that:Row[none]

Meaning
Example value

Comment
Explanation

Valid values

Holding

Published holding over fix, intersection or navaid

No row codes are used, since all data refers to holdings

LBU

Identifier of fix or navaid

One to five character valid identifier of known fix or navaid

EDENRT
3ICAO region code of fix or navaid
Terminal region identifier or ENRT for no enroute
Type of Fix or NavaidMust be region code according to ICAO document No. 7910
Airport code for terminal fixes, ENRT otherwise
11 = Fix, 2 = enroute NDB, 3 = VHF navaid (VOR, TACAN, DME)

178.0
1.00.0L500000Inbound holding course magnetic
Leg time in minutes, one decimal, or 0 for DME holdings
DME leg length in nautical miles, one decimal, or 0 for timed holdings
Turn direction L or R
Minimum altitude in feet or 0Maximum altitude in feet or 0Holding Speed limit in knots or 0 if the ICAO rules apply

See 424.18 4.1.5.1, 5.26
See 424.18 4.1.5.1, 5.65
See 424.18 4.1.5.1, 5.64
See 424.18 .4.1.5.1, 5.63
See 424.18, 4.1.5.1, 5.30
See 424.18, 4.1.5.1, 5.127
See 424.18, 4.1.5.1, 5.175

FURTHER INFORMATION
Resources are available for airport and navaid designers at the X-Plane Scenery Gateway at http://gateway.x-plane.com/X-Plane Hold Data (earth_hold.dat) File Specification

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