Naw, Im aware they dont decend all the way down at once. But I have had ATC instruct me to expedite my descent at the various step downs. I wanted to know what the expectations were for the initial step down descent(s) and form there the descent to the glide-slope intercept altitude for the FAF. Are they the same? Is one steeper?Im not worried about the descent rate once established on the Final Approach Course. I now about the 3nm for every 10,000ft rule, is that the guideline ATC is using? I thinking of trying a descent of 350-400ft/nm or 2,000 to about 2,500ft/min...but if ATC has expectations I'd much rather use that instead. Knowing this will keep me at ease as I descend under ATC instruction.

Try with the http://fsdzigns.com Connie and you have big suprise. A 700 fpm descent is normal in it. ATC have big troubles in getting you down in time. But it is fun. Anticipating is priority number one then.Have fun!Johan[A HREF=http://jdserver.no-ip.com]Personal Server[/A]or..http://62.238.33.10

>> Knowing this>will keep me at ease as I descend under ATC instruction.For 737 2000 fpm is god enough. Definitely not 1000 fpm or below.Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2

700fpm is a good starting point for a 3deg glideslope on final in a heavy. However, non precision approaches are often much steeper and outboud legs to the base turn are often much shallower, so some planning for a 'professional' flight is really recommended. If you want to fly accurately you simply can't hide from some sums during planning and a little mental math in the air. However, The FMS and/or an IFR GPS will do the calculations for you if programmed properly. For FMS you just follow the Flight Director.