AN ACR FLC FLYING MD82 AT BTG TURNED IN OPPOSITE DIRECTION IN A HOLDING PATTERN FROM THAT INSTRUCTED BY ATC.

Narrative

ENRTE TO SEA; WE HEARD OTHER ACFT BEING GIVEN HOLDING CLRNC AT BATTLE GROUND (BTG) VOR; AND WE EVENTUALLY GOT CLRNC TO HOLD S OF BTG AS PUBLISHED; BY ZSE; WITH AN EXPECTED FURTHER CLRNC (EFC) TIME OF ABOUT 10 MINS FROM PRESENT TIME. I BRIEFED THE FO THAT I WOULD HOLD ON THE 331 DEGS INBOUND COURSE AND MAKE A L TURN INTO HOLDING; DIRECT ENTRY; AND HOLD FOR ABOUT 18 MI; IN ORDER TO PERFECTLY ARRIVE BACK AT BTG AT THE EFC. HE APPEARED TO ACKNOWLEDGE POSITIVELY ALL MY STATEMENTS; OR AT LEAST DID NOT QUESTION ANYTHING. AT BTG; I INDEED MADE A L TURN (WE WERE HEADING ABOUT 340 DEGS); CALLED CTR TO ANNOUNCE HOLDING; AND ACKNOWLEDGED A DSCNT FROM FL350 TO FL330 MYSELF; SINCE THE FO WAS ON THE OTHER RADIO WITH OPS; AND THEN ON THE PA WITH THE PEOPLE ABOUT OUR HOLDING. AFTER ROLLING OUT ON OUTBOUND LEG; AND IN THE DSCNT; ZSE CALLED US TO TELL US WE WERE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE HOLDING PATTERN. I WAS ABSOLUTELY ASTONISHED AND LOOKED AT MY ARR CHART AGAIN. I HAD FLOWN A PERFECT; PUBLISHED; L HOLDING PATTERN ENTRY FOR OLYMPIA VOR; N OF BTG. LUCKILY NO OTHER ACFT WERE IN THE VICINITY AT OUR ALT; AND CTR STARTED GIVING US VECTORS AFTER I GOT ABOUT ON THE BTG PUBLISHED OUTBOUND RADIAL FOR A PARALLEL RE-ENTRY (R TURN HOLDING). XHCKING THE HOLDING PATTERN WITH MY ENRTE CHART MIGHT HAVE CLUED ME IN THAT I WAS LOOKING AT THE WRONG HOLDING PATTERN. THE FO APOLOGIZED THAT HE DID NOT CORRECT MY ERROR DURING MY BRIEFING; OR IN THE TURN; BECAUSE HE WAS BUSY WITH 'ADMINISTRATIVE' DUTIES. PERHAPS HE SOMEHOW TRUSTED THAT THE '20000 HR/10000 HR-IN-TYPE; HIGHLY EXPERIENCED' CAPT COULDN'T POSSIBLY MESS UP AN EASY HOLDING PATTERN; ALTHOUGH I KNOW ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. I WILL BE MORE VIGILANT AT 'FAMILIAR' AREAS FROM NOW ON.