Hiya allI'm loving the 737 at the moment but have one minor problem I cant seem to figure out. I use radar contact 4 for my ATC and they often tell me to decend to FL11 but I have to be at that altitude before 40 miles from the point they tell me. I know in the legs page on the FMC I can set altitudes and speeds but how do I set an altitude restriction when there is no waypoint 40 miles out. I have looked through the FMC manual and looked through the various tutorials but cant find any help.Anyone know how to assign this type of restriction?Many thanksDean Farley

Dean,This situation is covered in the highly recommended Timothy Metzinger 737 tutorial. The solution is to first add an appropriate waypoint. The format is WAYPOINT/MILES BEFORE OR AFTER THAT WAYPOINT. So, as an example, if they tell you to cross 40 miles prior to "GUMBY" at 11000, first thing is to create a new waypoint for that "40 miles before GUMBY" If "GUMBY" is already a programmed waypoint in your FMC, you can go to the legs page, press the LSK key next to GUMBY which will move it to the scratchpad, and then add "/-40". Otherwise, you'll need to add the new waypoint like you would any other. The scratchpad should now say "GUMBY/-40" Then, you can insert that new waypoint into the legs page. In this case, you would insert it after the waypoint that is preceding GUMBY (since it is a point before GUMBY). It'll show up as GUMBY01. Then, you can enter the crossing restriction for that new waypoint. Don't forget to execute it!! :-)Obviously, if the new waypoint is after the existing one, then you'd enter "GUMBY/20", or whatever the distance is. Hope this helpsRon

Hehe, I just found that tutorial you mentioned and finished reading exactly the part im looking for.Many thanks for taking the time to explain the procedure. much appreciated.

Dean,No problem. It's nice to know that for once I was giving the answers instead of asking questions. Ron