Line Up and Wait?

If you thought “line up and wait” referred to that cluster of airplanes bunched up at the end of the active runway on a sunny afternoon, you will have to learn a new definition. Starting next month, the tower instruction to “position and hold” (meaning to taxi into the takeoff position on the runway then hold there until issued a takeoff clearance) will change to the ICAO standard “line up and wait“.  I suspect there is going to be a period of confusion while pilots and controllers get used to the new terminology.

  • Hi,

    we’ve been using “Line up and wait” for ages here in Europe. It is usually accompanied by runway designation, like “Line-up and wait runway 23”.

    This is may be why I never really likes the “Position and hold” thing when flying in the US. In the ICAO phraseology, it sounds too close to “Hold position”.

    I’m sure you’ll get use to Line up and wait rapidly 🙂

  • >