Hi everyone,
I've got this A340 I downloaded from POSKY, and I decided to follow the manual they gave me with the download, as it looks very accurate. If anyone actually has the manual, this message would be a lot easier to comprehend...
I took off from DFW bound for FRA, and all was going nicely, until about 200nm out, I started to look at my descent procedure, just to get an idea of it. Anyways, as usual, I was flying IFR, but according to the Descent procedure, I should descend at 300kts at 2500fpm above 10,000. I understand that, but assuming I was at 33,000ft, the ATC would request my descent at about 105nm out. Descending at 2500fpm, I would be going way to quickly, considering how far away I was from the airport. Is there anyway to get ATC to request descent at different times, or should I just begin my descent according to procedure whenever ATC demands it? BTW, in the manual, they didn't give me reference speeds, but they ask to land at VREF + 5kts. Where can I get them? THX....Please answer as soon as possible, as I would like to land soon.
Well, in the short answer, no.
When you take into account how heavy and big a real airliner is, they start descent around 130nm out from the airport. Why? Because they are so heavy, it takes them a long time to bleed all that airspeed off. Second, they don't want the passengers getting sick with that big of a descent rate.
ATC will vector you down early so you have time to set up your approach, not make your passengers sick, and give you the chance to bleed off your airspeed for when you get in Class B Airspace or below 10,000, and if you descend right close to the airport, its extremely stressful on the passengers and airplane to do steeper turns just to be able to get on the right Approach and ILS intercept. That is why airliners are put on finals a long way from the airport they are to land at.
Pilots rated on those aircraft say if you descend more than 3 degrees on the airtificial horizon you are likely to get a waring from the staff or get fired. It's just not safe.
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