I'm speaking to a RW 737 NG pilot but is now flying the 777 he passed on one of his personal techniques that i asked him about when getting vectored from a STAR to the CI. i hope this will help others, thankyou.

 

 

Thats a good basic way to plan your descent, however i would never look at the progress page distance (since thats along the planned route), instead if you are already under vectors look at the top right of the ND to see the distance direct to the final fix. My personal technique is to use the (completely underused and forgotten about) descent angle feature on the Descent page. On the bottom right (R4?) you should see a waypoint and an altitude, thats usually the next waypoint with an altitude restriction in your flight plan. What most pilots arent aware of is that you can overwrite this and use your Final fix (CI23) and its crossing altitude (CI23/2600). If you insert that it will display the required descent angle (assuming a direct path to that point) and the required vertical speed at your current groundspeed to make it. That allows you to make beautiful double intercepts (LOC and GS) by fine tuning your descent. The 737NG doesnt like to descend, so try to keep that angle below 3° by flying below the VNAV path to be ready for vectors to final, losing altitude quickly is impossible in that thing. 5-10 NM before the final fix I would configure to flaps 5, set the flaps 5 speed and descend in V/S mode with the vertical speed displayed on the Descent page. The airplane should slow down gradually and then make a double intercept at the final fix.
Man, you make me miss the 737 quite a bit, havent thought about the bird for nearly a year now 

Thanks for sharing RW procedure/technique

 

Michael Moe

Thank you, Vernon!

 

That is a heck of useful advice.

I'll gladly check if it can be applied in our FS.

The guy i'm speaking to is so helpfull but i'm going to choose my question wisely lol not like 'hey man, why is my LNAV not working or what is LNAV? 

 

yeh i'm going to try it out now guys let me...

The guy i'm speaking to is so helpfull but i'm going to choose my question wisely lol not like 'hey man, why is my LNAV not working or what is LNAV? 

 

yeh i'm going to try it out now guys let me...

oops double post sorry

There are many ways to plan the descent, but I really am a fan of the Vertical Bearing on the FAF. I don't need to worry about field elevation, just angles. If you've got 3.0 V/B to the FAF's crossing alt, you're in a good spot.

 

 

A typical G/S is 3deg. Vertical Bearing tells you what your degrees to whatever fix is on the DESC page. So, if your vertical bearing is 3deg to FINKA at 1900 (the appropriate height for the ILS), then you're on a good profile if you're pointing at FINKA.

 

 

Also, I use V/S to have a nice gentle G/S intercept. I don't like high power settings and level flight on approach, so I keep track of my Vertical Bearing (DESC page) to the FAF and use a more sedate V/S once I'm around 3.0 degrees. Smooth. Chicks totally dig it.

 

Please don't tell me this is the first you've heard of this technique. I think these are my responses to threads you started!

Such a cool technique, thanks so much for taking the time to share it!

Please don't tell me this is the first you've heard of this technique. I think these are my responses to threads you started!

Matt C

 

I only asked him of personal techniques!!!!

 

If you read his opening message ( thats a good basic way to plan you descent ) i actually told him what i was doing the things you QUOTED ABOVE !!!!

 

Please don't shoot me down i'm only passing on techniques to the 737 jockys

Such a cool technique, thanks so much for taking the time to share it!

Welcome i'll post whatever i get on this

 

 

Please don't shoot me down i'm only passing on techniques to the 737 jockys

 

I have spent a bunch of time in the jumpseat commuting around the US. I get to see SOPs from SWA, AA, DL, etc. And I've flown 737s for two airlines. So, I get to do a lot of benchmarking - comparing different SOPs and techniques.

 

So, I do the same thing you're doing - seek out many different ways and choose what works for me.

 

But don't get wrapped up in the minutiae of "Is it 3.5nm or 3.6nm?" because at that point, you're losing sight of the big picture. 

 

And don't forget to give credit where it's due.

 

 

But don't get wrapped up in the minutiae of "Is it 3.5nm or 3.6nm?" because at that point, you're losing sight of the big picture.

 

This!

 

When I was a check airman at my last airline I gave a lot of IOE and we went through a phase where we had a lot of new hires suffering from this.  These guys would get so wrapped up in the details that they lost the big picture completely.  Most were somewhat surprised that flying airline jets wasn't quite as precise as they expected it to be.

I have spent a bunch of time in the jumpseat commuting around the US. I get to see SOPs from SWA, AA, DL, etc. And I've flown 737s for two airlines. So, I get to do a lot of benchmarking - comparing different SOPs and techniques.

 

So, I do the same thing you're doing - seek out many different ways and choose what works for me.

 

But don't get wrapped up in the minutiae of "Is it 3.5nm or 3.6nm?" because at that point, you're losing sight of the big picture. 

 

And don't forget to give credit where it's due.

My brain is always hard at work with all this yeh i'm trying to find what works for me and stick with it.