Originally Posted by
beech2jet
I know about all the formulas you can use for decent planning and such, but when you are actually on the line is there a quick way you guys determine what decent rate you need? It just doesn't seem like you'd have the time in that situation to work out a few formulas to get down. When ATC says decend they usually mean, like, now.
depending on the plane. in the crj you set up where atc wants you. for example atc says cross 10 miles north of gilmore at and maintain 10000. so what you do is select gilmore in the fms, create a fix 10 miles north of it on your flight plan, and then give it an alltitude. then move the altitude preselect to 10000ft. If you have vnav on your mfd it will give you the feet per minute and the degree of descent at the same time, you just choose whether you want to do a 3.0 degree descent, or a 4.0, or a 2.0 doesn't matter. you just choose what you like and follow it down. its all real time so like you said when atc gives it to you, you just put it in and go.