Throughout the month of February, Sporty’s is celebrating IFR Month, a month-long focus on the challenges and rewards of instrument flying. In addition to special savings on pilot gear, Sporty’s will offer webinars, articles, instrument flying videos, and and expert IFR guidance. The goal is to encourage pilots to earn their instrument rating, get current, and enjoy more utility from their pilot certificate.
Limited time IFR Month specials will be available on a variety of products, including Sporty’s Instrument Rating Course. This comprehensive course, newly updated for 2026 with aviation intelligence, is available on virtually all mobile platforms and includes engaging IFR training, free lifetime updates, dedicated test preparation modules, and an extensive IFR reference library.
Sporty’s IFR Month runs through February 28. For more information, and a complete list of content, events and specials, visit Sportys.com/IFR.
https://media.ifrfocus.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/25105635/approach-to-minimums.png10001250IFR Focus Teamhttps://media.ifrfocus.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/14115136/IFR-Focus-Logo_White_Blue_Web-01.pngIFR Focus Team2026-02-06 08:54:102026-02-04 19:36:24February is IFR month at Sporty’s
A simulator is the perfect place to practice judgment, timing, and managing workload when the pressure is on. Our Sim Challenges make it easy to get a good workout—at home—using Microsoft Flight Simulator or X-Plane. Along the way, you’ll answer thought-provoking questions and learn from an expert’s real-world insights.
In this month’s challenge, a short winter flight in Vermont from Rutland (KRUT) to Burlington (KBTV) packs in an IFR procedures workout. It’s also a first-hand look at what cold temperatures can do to your altimeter (and what to do about it).
Welcome to the latest edition of the Instrument Maneuver Spotlight series. In each installment, we focus on a specific maneuver you’ll practice during instrument training—and one you’ll be expected to demonstrate confidently on your checkride.
Few IFR skills are used as often—or taken as much for granted—as intercepting and tracking a GPS course. Whether you’re joining an airway, flying a feeder route, or correcting for wind en route to the next fix, this maneuver sits at the heart of modern IFR flying. In this spotlight, we’ll break down how to properly set up the GPS, select and intercept the desired course, manage intercept angles, and smoothly transition from interception to accurate course tracking—while staying well within standards.
Each maneuver is part of Sporty’s Instrument Rating Course and includes a narrated video animation, along with step-by-step instructions that include performance standards and common errors. Study them while on the ground or print them for quick reference in the airplane.
IFR currency seems simple on paper—six approaches every six months.
IFR currency seems simple on paper—six approaches every six months—but in real flying, what seems black and white can turn gray in a hurry. Do approaches in mostly visual conditions count? What about simulators, vectors to final, or breaking out early?
IFR currency isn’t hard to maintain, but it is easy to misunderstand. The biggest mistakes usually come from assuming that filing IFR or flying an approach automatically makes it loggable. In reality, how you fly the approach matters more than when.
To act as PIC under IFR, an instrument-rated pilot must have logged, within the previous 6 calendar months:
Six instrument approaches
Holding procedures and tasks
Intercepting and tracking courses
That’s the easy part. The nuance is in what actually qualifies.
An instrument approach may be logged toward currency if it’s flown under any of these conditions:
Actual IMC in an aircraft
Simulated IMC in an aircraft (using a view-limiting device and a safety pilot)
FAA-approved simulators or training devices (FFS, FTD, or ATD with a valid LOA)
A combination of the above
The common thread? You must be flying solely by reference to instruments. For an approach to count, it must meet all of these criteria (based on FAA guidance and legal interpretations):
Flown solely by reference to instruments
No outside visual cues—actual or simulated IMC must be real.
Properly established on the approach
Fly the required segments (initial, intermediate, and final), unless ATC vectors allow you to join later.
Flown to MDA or DA
You don’t need to land. If you break out before or at DA/MDA after flying part of the final segment (beyond the FAF) in IMC, it still counts.
Instrument time is logged
You can’t log an approach without logging actual or simulated instrument time alongside it.
What about missed approaches and holds?
The missed approach is not required for logging the approach (but skipping them regularly is not a good idea)
Holds may be flown in the aircraft, simulator or flight training device—published, assigned or simulated are all acceptable
If you ever find yourself debating whether an approach counted, that’s usually your answer. Log approaches honestly, understand the conditions that matter, and treat currency as a minimum standard—not a proficiency goal. You can be perfectly legal and still unprepared or unsafe if you haven’t flown IMC recently, haven’t hand-flown in instrument conditions or haven’t executed a missed approach in months.
https://media.ifrfocus.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/21115627/Ask-an-IFR-Expert-What-actually-counts-towards-IFR-currency.png10001250Eric Radtkehttps://media.ifrfocus.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/14115136/IFR-Focus-Logo_White_Blue_Web-01.pngEric Radtke2026-01-27 08:55:352026-01-21 11:57:32Ask an IFR Expert: What actually counts towards IFR currency?
Arrivals and departures are where IFR flying shifts from procedure memorization to real chart interpretation. This quiz challenges you to read SIDs and STARs the way they’re actually used—identifying transitions, understanding altitude requirements, and knowing what to do when things don’t go as planned. The answers are all on the chart, but only if you know where (and how) to look.
(Refer to the figures) While inbound to Dallas Ft. Worth Airport, you're assigned the Glen Rose Nine Arrival, JUMBO transition (JUMBO.JEN9). What fix does the transition begin at?
Correct!Wrong!
(Refer to the figure) What procedure should be followed if communications are lost before reaching 11,000 feet when flying the DIRDY transition?
Correct!Wrong!
(Refer to the figure) What route should you take if cleared for the Grand Junction Six Departure, Squat Transition, from Runway 11 and your assigned route is V8?
Correct!Wrong!
(Refer to the figure) When flying the STELA.STELA1 arrival, what altitude restriction can you expect to receive along the procedure?
Correct!Wrong!
(Refer to the figure) When flying the SQUAT transition, what is the minimum altitude you must climb to during the procedure?
Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (KBZN) RNAV and ILS 12
In a world of vectors and magenta lines, we rarely sweat the details of transition routes for instrument approaches. Follow the controller’s instructions and the GPS flight plan.
What could go wrong?
Not much when you’re in radar contact and the navigator is working. However, both of those things can drop away without warning, so it’s worth digging into how you bridge the gap between the enroute environment and the final approach course on your own. It’s also an often-overlooked part of the IFR education. Two great charts to study are the RNAV (GPS) Y Rwy 12 and ILS or LOC Rwy 12 at Bozeman, MT (KBZN).
Transitions connect a point in the enroute structure with a point on the approach chart. The RNAV (GPS) Y Rwy 12 has three: The Livingston VOR (LVM), the Whitehall VOR (HIA), and RANEY on V-343. It also has two IAFs that also exist on airways so you can go directly from enroute to approach: THESE on V-343 and GODFE on V-365. So long as one of those five fixes are found along your cleared route, they should be available as a transition from the airway system to the approach.
GODFE and THESE are the simplest: it’s 8000 feet direct to FEVIM, which is a track of 163 and 074, respectively. Note that the 8000 is an at-or-above altitude. If cleared for that transition, and barring any instruction from ATC otherwise, descent to 8000 is at your discretion. That’s why the wavy double line, meaning it’s not to scale, and 18.5 in parenthesis at GODFE are worth noting. It’s 18.5 nm from GODFE to FEVIM, so you’ve got some time to descend. Note to iPad users with georeferenced charts: These discontinuities are not factored into when the airplane symbol appears over them on the chart. Your position is relative to the primary fixes on the approach.
NoPT means you won’t fly the hold-in-lieu-of-procedure-turn (thankfully acronymed HILPT). You’ll simply cross FEVIM and fly a course of 123 to HAYCI at (or above) 7300 feet.
Did you expect the next fix after FEVIM to be OLENY rather than HAYCI? It would be an easy mistake.? The step-down fix HAYCI kinda gets lost in the noise on this approach, which is why we brief approaches and ensure they match the way points listed in the GPS flight plan.
Moving clockwise on the transitions, LVM and RANEY are similar, but include a leg to a secondary RNAV fix (QIVHY and POPWI, respectively), and then direct FEVIM. The headings don’t change between the two legs, so they must be stepdowns for obstacles. Arrivals from these directions require a HILPT at FEVIM. The trip from HIA has three legs, the last of which is the transition from THESE. No surprise here.
The ILS approach is more interesting. There’s a 15-mile transition from the Bozeman VOR (BZN) via R-297 to FALIA, with a HILPT. For equipment, only a basic VHF nav/com and a timer is required. Two VORs would be better, and FALIA is at the intersection of BZN R-297 and HIA R-061. FALIA is shown on the enroute chart with these crossing radials shown, but not with any on-airway route to reach it. Of course, you could use GPS, but that’s not required for this approach.
There’s also a transition from HIA to THESE with two legs. The minimum altitude is 9400 feet for the first 19 miles, denoted by the 19 inside the D-shape (for “distance” or “DME”). The minimum altitude for the next 7.9 miles is 8300 feet. Both legs follow R-060 from the VOR. If you’re using GPS, the fix where you can descend to 8300 feet is HEBIV. (Side note: An older version of this chart had two distance discontinuities and the stepdown was kinda hidden between them. The current version shifted the entire approach to the right in the plan view, perhaps to make that stepdown clearer. Wonder if there’s a story behind that. Maybe an ASRS report too). Because GPS navigation is not required and you might be navigating using VORs, the next intersection, THESE, is defined by R-060 from HIA and R-284 from BZN. Without DME you’d have to maintain 9400 to here, or be pretty confident in your position by time.
The route THESE to FALIA has a note that requires some parsing: “8000 NoPT to FALIA 042° (4.5) and 123 (2.7).” What’s “123°”? Why that’s the inbound localizer course. The older version of the chart said that. I don’t know what TERPS change mandated the more cryptic course. Maybe they had to keep it interesting after shifting the plan view. With a GPS it doesn’t matter. You’ll see THESE, an intercept point, and FALIA in the flight plan.
Without GPS, this route is accomplished by flying a heading of 042 and … waiting for the localizer signal. It’s a dead reckoning leg. To keep the dead part from getting too literal, start a timer and know about how long it will take to fly 4.5 miles to intercept the localizer. Go much longer than that and it’s time to execute a Plan B with a climb and a turn towards lower terrain. Once you intercept the localizer, it’s another 2.7 miles to FALIA.
The missed approach has a similar dead reckoning leg. You climb on runway heading to 5200 feet, then turn to a heading of 250 to intercept R-223 from BZN as you continue to climb for 9000 feet to BRIGR.
BRIGR is also an initial approach fix (IAF) for this approach, with a DME-arc transition. That old chart (I know, I keep bringing this up) required radar for this fix. That’s because BRIGR isn’t on the enroute chart, so without RNAV a controller would be the only way to find it. I guess they figure everyone has RNAV now, so why waste ink?
If radar coverage was down and you had a GPS, could you fly to BRIGR on your own? Probably not. Off-route clearances require radar coverage (for the most part).
When flying the arc with GPS, you’ll get an annunciation from the navigator when it’s time to turn inbound and intercept the localizer. Without GPS, you might start your turn inbound to the localizer when you cross R-289 from BZN. This is the lead radial, marked “LR-289” on the chart. And, yes, it’s perfectly legal to fly this with one nav/com—as long as you have simultaneous reception of the I-BZN localizer and the BZN DME. That detail is in the chart notes. But then, who actually still has a real DME receiver in light GA? Lead radials get more important the faster you’re moving over the ground. Below 150 knots, you can usually ignore them. That’s true airspeed though. Up here, 150 knots true would be about 125 knots indicated.
There’s also a DME arc from KICDO. There was no radar requirement on the old approach chart, even though you won’t find KICDO on the enroute chart. The key is that KICDO is on R-320 from BZN at 15 miles. R-320 also defines V-365 from BZN. This means KICDO is on V-365 two miles north of MENAR (the one with the crossing restriction flag). It’s typical to find a common named fix on both the enroute chart and the approach chart, but it’s not required if the fix on the chart lies directly on the airway.
This is why details matter. Sometimes it takes a little investigation to understand how all the transitions connect. Make a habit of investigating and you’ll be ready on the off day when you must put that knowledge to use.
The Swiss Army Knife of Flying Math
A Seven Mile Hold? Really?
Both the GPS and Localizer-based approaches to Runway 12 at KBZN have a HILPT (hold in lieu of procedure turn), but they’re defined differently—which makes a huge difference, at least on paper. When a procedure turn is depicted as a hold, you should fly it like a hold. No “creative” turns are allowed. The ILS shows a one-minute leg length, so you’ll follow standard practice and fly outbound for enough time that the leg coming back inbound is about a minute.
The RNAV approach measures the HILPT in distance. These are at least four miles, but the length increases with altitude. This HILPT is seven miles. The GPS guidance will bring you out far enough to fly all seven miles back inbound. That’s a 10-minute course reversal for a typical trainer. You might need long-range fuel tanks.
Except you don’t need to fly all seven. This isn’t a hold, it’s a HILPT. AIM 5-4-9 even allows for this: “… the specified leg length/timing must not be exceeded.” So remain within the bounds of the racetrack and use an approved hold entry, but feel free to cut the distance short and save a little gas. Most GPS navigators even understand and sequence to the next fix automatically.
https://media.ifrfocus.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/12125902/Practical-IFR-Understanding-the-Transitions.png10001250Jeff Van Westhttps://media.ifrfocus.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/14115136/IFR-Focus-Logo_White_Blue_Web-01.pngJeff Van West2026-01-20 08:55:272026-01-21 15:55:52Practical IFR: Understanding the Transitions
February is IFR month at Sporty’s
/by IFR Focus TeamIFR Month will be celebrated across Sporty’s Media Network including here on IFR Focus. IFR content will include articles, videos, and quizzes on instrument flying topics. Webinar topics include Using a Home Simulator for IFR Training & Proficiency and the Instrument Approach Challenge from PilotWorkshops.
Limited time IFR Month specials will be available on a variety of products, including Sporty’s Instrument Rating Course. This comprehensive course, newly updated for 2026 with aviation intelligence, is available on virtually all mobile platforms and includes engaging IFR training, free lifetime updates, dedicated test preparation modules, and an extensive IFR reference library.
Sporty’s IFR Month runs through February 28. For more information, and a complete list of content, events and specials, visit Sportys.com/IFR.
Sim Challenge: The Lowdown (IFR)
/by Lee SmithSim Challenge: The Lowdown (IFR)
A simulator is the perfect place to practice judgment, timing, and managing workload when the pressure is on. Our Sim Challenges make it easy to get a good workout—at home—using Microsoft Flight Simulator or X-Plane. Along the way, you’ll answer thought-provoking questions and learn from an expert’s real-world insights.
In this month’s challenge, a short winter flight in Vermont from Rutland (KRUT) to Burlington (KBTV) packs in an IFR procedures workout. It’s also a first-hand look at what cold temperatures can do to your altimeter (and what to do about it).
Take the Challenge!
Instrument Maneuver Spotlight: Intercepting and Tracking GPS Courses
/by IFR Focus TeamWelcome to the latest edition of the Instrument Maneuver Spotlight series. In each installment, we focus on a specific maneuver you’ll practice during instrument training—and one you’ll be expected to demonstrate confidently on your checkride.
Few IFR skills are used as often—or taken as much for granted—as intercepting and tracking a GPS course. Whether you’re joining an airway, flying a feeder route, or correcting for wind en route to the next fix, this maneuver sits at the heart of modern IFR flying. In this spotlight, we’ll break down how to properly set up the GPS, select and intercept the desired course, manage intercept angles, and smoothly transition from interception to accurate course tracking—while staying well within standards.
Each maneuver is part of Sporty’s Instrument Rating Course and includes a narrated video animation, along with step-by-step instructions that include performance standards and common errors. Study them while on the ground or print them for quick reference in the airplane.
Ask an IFR Expert: What actually counts towards IFR currency?
/by Eric RadtkeIFR currency seems simple on paper—six approaches every six months.
IFR currency seems simple on paper—six approaches every six months—but in real flying, what seems black and white can turn gray in a hurry. Do approaches in mostly visual conditions count? What about simulators, vectors to final, or breaking out early?
IFR currency isn’t hard to maintain, but it is easy to misunderstand. The biggest mistakes usually come from assuming that filing IFR or flying an approach automatically makes it loggable. In reality, how you fly the approach matters more than when.
The baseline currency requirement (§ 61.57 Recent flight experience: Pilot in command)
To act as PIC under IFR, an instrument-rated pilot must have logged, within the previous 6 calendar months:
That’s the easy part. The nuance is in what actually qualifies.
An instrument approach may be logged toward currency if it’s flown under any of these conditions:
The common thread? You must be flying solely by reference to instruments. For an approach to count, it must meet all of these criteria (based on FAA guidance and legal interpretations):
No outside visual cues—actual or simulated IMC must be real.
Fly the required segments (initial, intermediate, and final), unless ATC vectors allow you to join later.
You don’t need to land. If you break out before or at DA/MDA after flying part of the final segment (beyond the FAF) in IMC, it still counts.
You can’t log an approach without logging actual or simulated instrument time alongside it.
What about missed approaches and holds?
If you ever find yourself debating whether an approach counted, that’s usually your answer. Log approaches honestly, understand the conditions that matter, and treat currency as a minimum standard—not a proficiency goal. You can be perfectly legal and still unprepared or unsafe if you haven’t flown IMC recently, haven’t hand-flown in instrument conditions or haven’t executed a missed approach in months.
Quiz: IFR Arrivals and Departures
/by IFR Focus TeamArrivals and departures are where IFR flying shifts from procedure memorization to real chart interpretation. This quiz challenges you to read SIDs and STARs the way they’re actually used—identifying transitions, understanding altitude requirements, and knowing what to do when things don’t go as planned. The answers are all on the chart, but only if you know where (and how) to look.
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Practical IFR: Understanding the Transitions
/by Jeff Van WestBozeman Yellowstone International Airport (KBZN) RNAV and ILS 12
In a world of vectors and magenta lines, we rarely sweat the details of transition routes for instrument approaches. Follow the controller’s instructions and the GPS flight plan.
What could go wrong?
Not much when you’re in radar contact and the navigator is working. However, both of those things can drop away without warning, so it’s worth digging into how you bridge the gap between the enroute environment and the final approach course on your own. It’s also an often-overlooked part of the IFR education. Two great charts to study are the RNAV (GPS) Y Rwy 12 and ILS or LOC Rwy 12 at Bozeman, MT (KBZN).
Transitions connect a point in the enroute structure with a point on the approach chart. The RNAV (GPS) Y Rwy 12 has three: The Livingston VOR (LVM), the Whitehall VOR (HIA), and RANEY on V-343. It also has two IAFs that also exist on airways so you can go directly from enroute to approach: THESE on V-343 and GODFE on V-365. So long as one of those five fixes are found along your cleared route, they should be available as a transition from the airway system to the approach.
GODFE and THESE are the simplest: it’s 8000 feet direct to FEVIM, which is a track of 163 and 074, respectively. Note that the 8000 is an at-or-above altitude. If cleared for that transition, and barring any instruction from ATC otherwise, descent to 8000 is at your discretion. That’s why the wavy double line, meaning it’s not to scale, and 18.5 in parenthesis at GODFE are worth noting. It’s 18.5 nm from GODFE to FEVIM, so you’ve got some time to descend. Note to iPad users with georeferenced charts: These discontinuities are not factored into when the airplane symbol appears over them on the chart. Your position is relative to the primary fixes on the approach.
NoPT means you won’t fly the hold-in-lieu-of-procedure-turn (thankfully acronymed HILPT). You’ll simply cross FEVIM and fly a course of 123 to HAYCI at (or above) 7300 feet.
Did you expect the next fix after FEVIM to be OLENY rather than HAYCI? It would be an easy mistake.? The step-down fix HAYCI kinda gets lost in the noise on this approach, which is why we brief approaches and ensure they match the way points listed in the GPS flight plan.
Moving clockwise on the transitions, LVM and RANEY are similar, but include a leg to a secondary RNAV fix (QIVHY and POPWI, respectively), and then direct FEVIM. The headings don’t change between the two legs, so they must be stepdowns for obstacles. Arrivals from these directions require a HILPT at FEVIM. The trip from HIA has three legs, the last of which is the transition from THESE. No surprise here.
The ILS approach is more interesting. There’s a 15-mile transition from the Bozeman VOR (BZN) via R-297 to FALIA, with a HILPT. For equipment, only a basic VHF nav/com and a timer is required. Two VORs would be better, and FALIA is at the intersection of BZN R-297 and HIA R-061. FALIA is shown on the enroute chart with these crossing radials shown, but not with any on-airway route to reach it. Of course, you could use GPS, but that’s not required for this approach.
There’s also a transition from HIA to THESE with two legs. The minimum altitude is 9400 feet for the first 19 miles, denoted by the 19 inside the D-shape (for “distance” or “DME”). The minimum altitude for the next 7.9 miles is 8300 feet. Both legs follow R-060 from the VOR. If you’re using GPS, the fix where you can descend to 8300 feet is HEBIV. (Side note: An older version of this chart had two distance discontinuities and the stepdown was kinda hidden between them. The current version shifted the entire approach to the right in the plan view, perhaps to make that stepdown clearer. Wonder if there’s a story behind that. Maybe an ASRS report too). Because GPS navigation is not required and you might be navigating using VORs, the next intersection, THESE, is defined by R-060 from HIA and R-284 from BZN. Without DME you’d have to maintain 9400 to here, or be pretty confident in your position by time.
The route THESE to FALIA has a note that requires some parsing: “8000 NoPT to FALIA 042° (4.5) and 123 (2.7).” What’s “123°”? Why that’s the inbound localizer course. The older version of the chart said that. I don’t know what TERPS change mandated the more cryptic course. Maybe they had to keep it interesting after shifting the plan view. With a GPS it doesn’t matter. You’ll see THESE, an intercept point, and FALIA in the flight plan.
Without GPS, this route is accomplished by flying a heading of 042 and … waiting for the localizer signal. It’s a dead reckoning leg. To keep the dead part from getting too literal, start a timer and know about how long it will take to fly 4.5 miles to intercept the localizer. Go much longer than that and it’s time to execute a Plan B with a climb and a turn towards lower terrain. Once you intercept the localizer, it’s another 2.7 miles to FALIA.
The missed approach has a similar dead reckoning leg. You climb on runway heading to 5200 feet, then turn to a heading of 250 to intercept R-223 from BZN as you continue to climb for 9000 feet to BRIGR.
BRIGR is also an initial approach fix (IAF) for this approach, with a DME-arc transition. That old chart (I know, I keep bringing this up) required radar for this fix. That’s because BRIGR isn’t on the enroute chart, so without RNAV a controller would be the only way to find it. I guess they figure everyone has RNAV now, so why waste ink?
If radar coverage was down and you had a GPS, could you fly to BRIGR on your own? Probably not. Off-route clearances require radar coverage (for the most part).
When flying the arc with GPS, you’ll get an annunciation from the navigator when it’s time to turn inbound and intercept the localizer. Without GPS, you might start your turn inbound to the localizer when you cross R-289 from BZN. This is the lead radial, marked “LR-289” on the chart. And, yes, it’s perfectly legal to fly this with one nav/com—as long as you have simultaneous reception of the I-BZN localizer and the BZN DME. That detail is in the chart notes. But then, who actually still has a real DME receiver in light GA? Lead radials get more important the faster you’re moving over the ground. Below 150 knots, you can usually ignore them. That’s true airspeed though. Up here, 150 knots true would be about 125 knots indicated.
There’s also a DME arc from KICDO. There was no radar requirement on the old approach chart, even though you won’t find KICDO on the enroute chart. The key is that KICDO is on R-320 from BZN at 15 miles. R-320 also defines V-365 from BZN. This means KICDO is on V-365 two miles north of MENAR (the one with the crossing restriction flag). It’s typical to find a common named fix on both the enroute chart and the approach chart, but it’s not required if the fix on the chart lies directly on the airway.
This is why details matter. Sometimes it takes a little investigation to understand how all the transitions connect. Make a habit of investigating and you’ll be ready on the off day when you must put that knowledge to use.
The Swiss Army Knife of Flying Math
A Seven Mile Hold? Really?
Both the GPS and Localizer-based approaches to Runway 12 at KBZN have a HILPT (hold in lieu of procedure turn), but they’re defined differently—which makes a huge difference, at least on paper. When a procedure turn is depicted as a hold, you should fly it like a hold. No “creative” turns are allowed. The ILS shows a one-minute leg length, so you’ll follow standard practice and fly outbound for enough time that the leg coming back inbound is about a minute.
The RNAV approach measures the HILPT in distance. These are at least four miles, but the length increases with altitude. This HILPT is seven miles. The GPS guidance will bring you out far enough to fly all seven miles back inbound. That’s a 10-minute course reversal for a typical trainer. You might need long-range fuel tanks.
Except you don’t need to fly all seven. This isn’t a hold, it’s a HILPT. AIM 5-4-9 even allows for this: “… the specified leg length/timing must not be exceeded.” So remain within the bounds of the racetrack and use an approved hold entry, but feel free to cut the distance short and save a little gas. Most GPS navigators even understand and sequence to the next fix automatically.