Yea its a tough one, if you miss one restriction your done for on the rest. I agree I always try to be smooth but I think that goes out the window in this situation especially when my ticket is on the line. Remember you can always just hand fly it and do what you gotta do, maybe brief the passengers ahead of time also.

I believe the arrival has become an RNAV arrival. I'll have to look, but I believe regs stipulate the autopilot flies it.

No, the just recommend that you use the autopilot to ensure compliance with the arrival.

If one is able to make the steps from CAPSS to POOCH to WZRRD (each of which is 1000ft in 4 miles), why is 8000 at ELDEE (2000ft in 12 miles) hard?

not a flame, just an honest question to elimitate my ignorance

Sometimes slowing down and going down at the same time in icing conditions is a bit of an issue because you have to leave power set somewhat high to maintain anti-icing effectiveness.

That's why I would recommend slowing a bit earlier to leave some wiggle room, especially with a tailwind, which is common. Your ground speed is high and you have to slow from maybe 300 to 250 and then to 210 by Eldee, all while descending and leaving power on for effective anti-ice protection.

It can be done, but it requires some thinking ahead and knowing what your airplane can do.

okay, I got that.... but the rate of descent is only two thirds of what it was on the previous stepdowns that (presumably) were made without trouble. is it the 250 below 10000 that is the difference?

i don't have the chart infront of me but aren't the descent and speed restrictions on the RAVEN arrivel into BWI a little tougher to do than the ELDEE?

The ELDEE arrival is not tough, but does require planning and thinking if you have 100kt tailwinds and icing conditions, something not entirely uncommon in winter.

Do the CRJs and ERJs have a VNAV (vertical nav.) function ?

Thx,

FF

An RNAV Arrival/SID can be hand-flown, and in some cases, should be hand-flown.

If you must rely on the Autopilot to properly fly an aircraft, you should take a moment of self-reflection. Not an attack on you, but on the basis of that statement.