ODP in CRJ
 

Keep hearing about using Direct/intercept
Page of FMS to help manage these descents
Please explain!!!

If you have altitude crossings for a dept/arrival the FMS will calculate for advisory vnav. this can be a crossing restriction of an assigned alt "5000", above 5000 "5000A", below "5000B", or between "6000/4000". The Vnav on the mfd will show the next altitude restriction only. If you hit "DIR/INTC" you will see all the Vnav calculations for the extire arr/dept. You can then use the most restrictive of all the points. It never fails that you see 1000fpm for a fix 30 miles out, but then 4,000fpm right after. From 30 out you may just have 1,500 to meet the end restriction. Obviously, you need to hit each "hard" restriction but it works well to show the overall path to assist planning.

Banana bar

At XJT we are taught to just follow the snowflake. The snowflake respects your most restrictive crossing fix

Banana bar only corresponds to the altitude in the preselect. That may or may not be the crossing altitude you need for an arrival or dept.

The snowflake represents the next altitude in the FMS. That may not be the ideal situation with multiple step downs on an rnav.

Both the banana bar and snowflake work, but the OP is asking about the way to see it all at once. Dir/INTC shows that.

Just curious, why did you lable this thread as "ODP..." To my knowledge ODP means obstacle departure procedure. Not trying to bust your cajones, just curious. Did you mean STAR?

Right. I just adjust the vertical speed to hit the altitude you don't have selected in the alerter.

It's all about technique. Like most things involving technology, there are 5 different ways to get the same outcome. As long as an FAR isn't violated it tends to not be an issue.

It also stands for Optimized Descent Profile, which if followed exactly allows for a Constant Descent, thereby saving fuel and negating the "step-down" and level off on an RNAV STAR with multiple step downs. An example wouldbe the TRUPS1 RNAV into DCA.

-2263