Not likely a frequency other than 122.7, the published TFD/KCGZ frequency. Too many players. In addition to the corporate schools there is also independent CFI-I and local school training going on. Not to mention transient traffic. We've got some of the heaviest flight training in the country out here.
That's no joke. I've had more close calls out in the area south of the PHX Bravo than any place else I've flown. They used to use a discrete CTAF freq for the hold at TFD. In conjunction with the FAA and AZ DOT, they had set up a freq (I think it was 23.8 or 23.85, but don't quote me on that) for use in the hold, to alleviate some of the congestion on the KCGZ CTAF. When I left there were rumors floating around that this freq was going to go away...this was three, almost four years ago, so it could have changed by now. I know at KIWA they had signs published by the AZ DOT hanging in all of the flight schools and in the hallways in the GA terminal outlining the "recomended" procedures from the TFD hold. You might do well to stop in at IWA (or likely any of the local airports) and ask around about what the normal procedures are...there's actually a good bit of self-standardization going on between the schools in the area.
You never did practice approaches where you're at? All of your training was actually under ATC control? That doesn't happen out here. There are a lot of non-towered airports out here that have IAP, and many of them have limited / no radar coverage. And most places use holds in lieu of procedure turns. Ergo, there HAS to be some kind of standardization. The FAA isn't that stupid, they would have thought about this.
The thing of it is, practice approaches are usually flown as a VFR maneuver (hence the need for a safety pilot when you're under the hood, and the reason ATC says something like "maintain VFR, no separation services provided" before clearing you for the hold or the ILS). Steve and Greg are both refering to actual holds in IMC or at least VMC on an IFR flight plan. You're refering to VFR practice. The rules are different and that's where the confusion is.
Most places throughout the country don't have a fraction of the traffic that TFD does, certainly not as VFR traffic practicing IFR maneuvers. This place is kind of the exception to the norm!
At the TFD hold, ATC
does control the airspace. If it's actually IMC, or if an IFR aircraft comes in to CGZ, they will be assigned an altitude to fly until established on (and cleared for) the approach. If there's a stack of IFR aircraft at TFD, each will be asigned an altitude to hold until the guy below them cancels IFR. Then ATC will drop the next guy down and clear him for the approach.
When it's a bunch of VFR aircraft, though, ATC doesn't have to maintain separation, so it's just like flying VFR anywhere else - you have to separate yourself. Even though you're practicing an IFR task, you're still a VFR aircraft and subject to those rules.
The SOP at the TFD hold is to call inbound to the stack when you're ~5-10 miles out. The folks in the stack should be making position reports, and usually whoever is at the top of the stack will tell you what altitude they're at. You enter the stack 500ft above the last guy in. When someone reports either on the ground or missed approach, the bottom guy in the stack (whoever is at the published hold altitude) starts his approach. When he announces TFD inbound, the next lowest guy announces that he's decending. Once he starts down, they guy above him does the same. And so on. When you go miss off CGZ, it all starts over, announce inbound to the stack and someone should tell you where the top is. This system only works as well as the position reports guys are making, but that's the risk of flying VFR.
If you were actually an IFR aircraft (on an IFR flight plan), ATC would tell you to descend. When practicing at TFD you're VFR, so it's just a matter of see and avoid.
Make sense? Clear as mud? Let me know if I can confuse you any more, I've spend
a lot of time in this hold!
I'm going flying this morning, I'm sure one of the big schools will be on the field today, we get dozens of them a day, I'll ask the instructors what they do and post the answer.
Good luck, have fun, and let us know how it goes!