I only have a few hours in this wonderful 777 but I'm finding out this plane is even more slippery than the 737-800. Even with speedbrakes at 50% for the ride down I've ended up hot and high a couple times. Anyone have some tips they've found helpful? 

How high aer you descending from? I've havent been having any problems descending. So far the vnav has kept me right on target with my alt restrictions. With the ngx sometimes I would have to use vs button to make my alt

The most important question is - how are you descending? Are you using A/P or are you flying manually?

 

If you're using A/P, in which modes do you operate?

If you're flying manually, what is your thrust set to and what is the pitch angle? Have you tried dropping more than just the spoilers? 

My last flight was short one from PAE to PDX using the HELNS arrival and the 10R RNAV approach. I ended up being about 1500 feet high and had to fly the missed approach and come back again. It was all quite fun but I'm sure my passengers were annoyed with the delay. 

Use the DES FORECAST page, enter appropriate SPD and ALT gates for your STAR and she will get you where you want in VNAV.  Yes, sometimes a bit of airmanship will be needed, but give her all the info she needs, and she does a beautiful job of vertical path management.

Are you adhering to ATC instructions? If so, what ATC are you using? Addon or FSX?

 

And, as asked above, what A/P mode (if A/P at all) are you using?

Use the DES FORECAST page, enter appropriate SPD and ALT gates for your STAR and she will get you where you want in VNAV.  Yes, sometimes a bit of airmanship will be needed, but give her all the info she needs, and she does a beautiful job of vertical path management.

 

That's a good point, I haven't been entering winds yet. Waiting for OPUS to be able to output to the format compatible with the .wx files. 

DES FORECAST winds will still be a manual affair- winds aloft can be populated from TOC to TOD.

Are you adhering to ATC instructions? If so, what ATC are you using? Addon or FSX?

 

And, as asked above, what A/P mode (if A/P at all) are you using?

 

I don't bother with ATC except for with tower and ground so it's all on me. No VATSIM either. And I'm in LNAV/VNAV; autopilot is on usually until 1000 feet above DH. 

DES FORECAST winds will still be a manual affair- winds aloft can be populated from TOC to TOD.

 

Oh I see - got mixed up there. Still, I should start entering those winds in. 

You have to be nice and dirty by glideslope intercept. Flaps 15ish She doesn't slow down and descend clean. Before the approach vnav should be getting you where you need to be. If you think you're too fast in the star into the approach override the vnav speed yourself.

I would suggest that, by consulting charts, entering in altitude restrictions. From my experience on charts in the US there will be 'expected' restrictions, but on the data that is imported into the FMC there is no restrictions. Approaches I have used in Europe have 'mandated' speed and altitude restrictions which will be included by selecting the STAR and approach in the DEP/ARR page.

 

It may be that the FMC is calculating your descent path from TOD right down to landing in a straight line, irregardless of any speed restrictions i.e 250 below 10000 or slowing down for approach. I'm only guestimating here, I haven't tried a flight within the US myself yet!

 

If you follow the approach charts, from charts.aero, and manually inputting the altitude and speed restrictions for each waypoint, it may give you a better profile to intercept the correct approach path.

As a matter of good practice, all flight plans entered into FMC should be cross-referenced with charts for restrictions. It's a very good habit to develop, especially since database is not always correct (Navigraph is in my experience notoriously sloppy with ILS approach data), which can be great fun when flying with online ATC. I've been on a receiving end of a nastygram or two and in my mind blamed the data, when the problem was a typical PEBKAC.

Just checking, are your hardware throttles set to override in arm/hold mode? If so, are they at idle when you're descending? If they aren't at idle, the plane is trying to do an idle thrust descent with thrust applied, and that can't work.