B737 captain reports receiving a holding clearance to hold east of mrb; but a hold west is inadverte...

Attributes
ACN	1101761
Time
Date	201307
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZDC.ARTCC
State Reference	VA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-300
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	FMS/FMC
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 224 Flight Crew Type 224
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Narrative:

Enroute to bwi during cruise we received instructions to hold at mrb. Workload in the cockpit was high at this moment as the first officer and I were discussing the non-standard approach being used at bwi (VOR runway 10) and whether we were authorized to actually utilize this approach along with other arrival considerations (aircraft had gone missed approach due to weather at the station). Holding instructions were received very late; just enough time to program the FMC before commencing the hold. We entered the hold west of mrb on the westminster 6 arrival. ATC intended us to hold east of mrb on the westminster 6. ATC saw our initial turn and pointed this out. We continued the turn back to mrb; reprogrammed the FMC; and entered the hold east of mrb without further incident.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain reports receiving a holding clearance to hold east of MRB; but a hold west is inadvertently entered into the FMC. ATC detects the error and the pattern is corrected.

Narrative: Enroute to BWI during cruise we received instructions to hold at MRB. Workload in the cockpit was high at this moment as the First Officer and I were discussing the non-standard approach being used at BWI (VOR Runway 10) and whether we were authorized to actually utilize this approach along with other arrival considerations (aircraft had gone missed approach due to weather at the station). Holding instructions were received very late; just enough time to program the FMC before commencing the hold. We entered the hold west of MRB on the WESTMINSTER 6 Arrival. ATC intended us to hold east of MRB on the WESTMINSTER 6. ATC saw our initial turn and pointed this out. We continued the turn back to MRB; reprogrammed the FMC; and entered the hold east of MRB without further incident.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

B737 captain reports receiving a holding clearance to hold east of mrb; but a hold west is inadvertently entered into the FMC. ATC detects the error and the pattern is corrected.