Date: 201507
Local time of day: 1201-1800
Location: ZDC.ARTCC, VA
Flight conditions: VMC
Aircraft: EMB ERJ 170/175 ER/LR
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Cruise
Airspace: Class A ZDC
ATC / advisory: Center ZDC
Aircraft component: FMS/FMC
Component problem: Improperly Operated
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Pilot Not Flying; Captain
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Human factors: Human-Machine Interface; Situational Awareness
Second reporter function: Pilot Flying; First Officer
Anomaly: Deviation - Speed All Types; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Detector: Person Air Traffic Control; Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight
Result: Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Aircraft Automation Overrode Flight Crew; Flight Crew FLC Overrode Automation; Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Contributing factors: Aircraft; Human Factors
Primary problem: Human Factors

Narrative: We were told to hold at LYH northeast on our inbound course LEFT TURNS 20 nm legs EFC XA55. I wrote down the clearance correctly and read back the clearance correctly. But we had difficulty in entering the hold in the FMS correctly. Neither pilot noticed the RIGHT TURNS that came up as a default and we were distracted by the fact that the holding course was depicted differently on the MFD than the inbound course by about 5 degrees. As a result we hit cancel and reentered the hold with the corrected inbound course and checked to see that the depicted hold looked correct on the MFD map. About this time the aircraft began to turn right and was in FMS speeds so it also began to slow to 200 KIAS. This was a problem because at FL360 green dot was 220. The Pitch Limit Indicator (PLI) came down and the First Officer (FO) noticed and took control; switching to manual speeds and resetting to Mach .75. The aircraft was not accelerating in the turn so I selected CLIMB-1. The aircraft only got as slow as Mach .72 but in the turn we were probably 10-20 knots from the yellow airspeed tape and the aircraft would not accelerate until the wings were leveled. On the outbound side of the hold; ATC told us that next trip around the hold he wanted LEFT TURNS. It was then that we realized our mistake and began attempting to reprogram the FMS. We did not make a 2nd turn in holding though and were cleared inbound past LYH.Both pilots double checking EACH item in order before activating the hold. We both became fixated on the incorrectly displayed course and failed to catch the RIGHT TURNS vs. LEFT TURNS.


Second narrative: We were issued the following holding clearance 'Hold northeast of LYH on your inbound course; left turns; 20 NM legs; EFC XA55.' The captain requested 'speed our discretion' and this request was granted by ATC. We discussed going into manual speeds to slow down early for the upcoming hold. I told the Captain that; at FL360; I did not feel that we should slow down too much. My concern about slowing down too much was with the great increase in stall speed in the bank of the turns at the high altitude. After our discussion about stall speed in the bank of the high altitude hold; we elected not to go into manual speeds to slow the airplane down in advance of the hold but to stay in FMS speeds at Mach .74. We put the holding pattern into the FMS; and due to the aforementioned discussion about speed; we got distracted and forgot to change the turns in the hold in the FMS from right turns to left turns. We also forgot to change the FMS holding speed. While approaching the holding fix; because we were still in FMS speeds; the airplane automatically started to slow down. As soon as we noticed our mistake about the FMS speeds automatically slowing us down for the hold we intervened by overriding the throttles to accelerate and switched to manual speeds to change the speed back to Mach .74. Out of an abundance of caution due to the inadvertent slowdown I disconnected the autopilot on the first holding entry turn to decrease the bank angle slightly. This kept the stall speed lower during the turn. On the next turn of the hold; the turn towards the inbound course; ATC asked us to make the next holding pattern left turns. At this point we realized that we programmed the FMS for right turns instead of left turns. Our concern about the inadvertent slowdown and subsequent recovery distracted us from our other mistake of the fact that we programmed the wrong direction of turns into the FMS. We made the correction in the FMS for the next leg of the hold. We were cleared out of the hold prior to beginning the next turn.We should have crosschecked the holding entry in the FMS with the clearance more closely. We also should have gone into manual speeds at our desired speed for the hold the moment we discussed not wanting to change our speed.


Synopsis: ERJ170 flight crew described errors entering a holding pattern in the FMC; resulting in a right turn instead of a left turn and a low airspeed at FL360.