MD-11 Descent

[Guest pilot777]

When following the tutorial and at FL370 cruise alt I follow the directions and alter the Alt to 4000.When crossing the T/D the a/c does not start to descend. Am I missing something? Alan

[mfrantz 45]

Most probably PROF mode is not engaged. Look at the CRZ 37000 indication above the altitude tape on the PFD. CRZ should be in magenta color. If it is white this means that PROF is not engaged. Press the PROF button below the altitide dial knob on the FCP to engage PROF mode.

[Guest pilot777]

Thanks Michael. Do you have any problem getting down to the required 4000 in time?Alan

[mburkhard 23]

Alan,if you start to descent right at the top of descent point you will not have any problem descending on the profile. Speedbrakes should not be needed but you may add them should you feel it's necessary.If you are REALLY high above the descent profile you could pull the ALT selector and extend speedbrakes to full. Once you approach the profile again you would then just switch back to PROF.Regards,Markus

[Mace 1,909]

>Thanks Michael.> Do you have any problem getting down to the required 4000 in>time?>AlanI did the tutorial into Zurich a couple of times--and I did not have trouble getting down in time. That is a nice long STAR into Zurich. The key is making sure PROF is engaged (magenta color in the PFD) as was said.Other STARs are not so long. I had to hoof it to get down the first time I flew into KSTL in the MD-11. I approached from the west (TRAKE8 STAR) and I neglected to properly program the transition to the 30R approach. It worked MUCH better after I added a couple of waypoints east of KSTL to work into the approach, to get that big airplane turned around.Have you all ever had to add a waypoint or two on tight turns like that, transitioning to final? I have found that sometimes the magenta line doesn't quite get out to a distant waypoint if a very sharp turn would be indicated. In these cases, it seems to work better if I soften the turn with a waypoint or two to widen the turn for a transition into final.RhettFS box: E8500 (@ 3.80 ghz), AC Freezer 7 Pro, ASUS P5E3 Premium, BFG 8800GTX 756 (nVidia 169 WHQL), 4gb DDR3 1600 Patriot Cas7 7-7-7-20 (2T), PC Power 750, WD 150gb 10000rpm Raptor, Seagate 500gb, Silverstone TJ09 case, Vista Ultimate 64ASX Client: AMD 3700+ (@ 2.6 ghz), 7800GT

[Guest pilot777]

Thanks all for your remarks.Alan