After digging a bit more into Bulfers FMC Guide I noticed the "partial throttle - constant descent" technique with FMC assistance. Just as a quick summary, you would e.g. be at FL350 and would have to descend to a down route restriction at Waypoint XXX/10000 ft. For the descent it seems popular to make use of the below mentioned "angle calculator", finally leading to a more passenger convenient descent than using VNAV.Anyway, one would put the waypoint with restriction at LSK 3R in the descent page. At LSK 4R one would then see FPA, V/B (Vertical Bearing) and V/S from the actual position to that enroute waypoint. Pilots wait until a V/B of 3.0 is reached and then adjust the V/S thumbwheel to the V/S value at LSK 4R. This than places the nose to an FPA of 3.0 matching the V/B. During the descend the V/S is futher adjusted to match the V/B of 3.0.This sounds like a nice to have feature for future versions. Of course these calculations also could be done with some common rules of thumb, but wouldn't it be nice if we could use this more exact real world technique as well ?Michael

Michael,I think this is already implemented in the current version. The DES page will show V/S, V/B and FPA to the next hard altitude constraint even if you don't have VNAV engaged. I use this when getting clearances from ATC.Regards,

Mats,thanks for letting me know. I think, I have missed it, because I was looking for it before T/D and that feature gets alive after T/D. Looking into Bulfers book, I thought it should be available before T/D ? The other problem is, LSK 3R does not allow manual entries. It is fixed to destination airport and corresponding elevation, but one would not necessarily do descend planning with the destination ? I have not tried it yet, what happens if there is an wpt and altitude constraint in the legs page ? Is that transferred to LSK 3R then and used for the angle calculation ?Michael

Michael,>I have not tried it yet, what happens if there is an wpt and >altitude constraint in the legs page ? Is that transferred to LSK 3R >then and used for the angle calculation ?Sure is! :-)IMHO the DES page is outstanding when it comes to descent planning on the fly (pun intended).Cheers,

Mats,Ok, excellent. I'm currently rebuilding around 4-5 dozen SIDs and STARs (bit on hold after I have seen the extended grammer) and will soon make use of this nice on the fly feature ;)Thanks again for the clarificationMichael