Hey TD,
I didn't know how to do that either and I've taught using those things for hundreds of hours. Since you brought it up I thank you cause now I can go teach it and bust my students on it:D. hehe

Here, this would get you going in the right direction, enough time to setup the GPS. (see attachment)

Somebody hit me with another one, I can draw it out too if you want. Preferably something with a larger difference in course.

I agree with the others though, don't accept a clearance you can't do. I would've at least asked for a vector from ATC to get me going in the right direction if I were in your shoes.

Everyone's picking on the GPS portion. You complained about screaming down and going too fast at the IAP. How about a procedure turn? You can get away 1.5k high and fast in a prop most of the time, but probably not meet any stabilized approach criteria. You're starting off learning the wrong way to do things. IMHO

Fosters you are one sicky puppy. I was thinking along the same lines. But more along the lines of a triangle. I'm gonna pour over what you did a little more. I might have a couple questions. If you constantly update your position using the DME on the GPS you can constantly stay on course and you'll know the exact heading. You can do it like a DME arc. Like I said I don't know the legalities of it. As long as you update it every few degrees it shouldn't be a real problem however if you do manage to get off your course too much it would be one hell of a pain then calculating how far you have left to go then calculate the new correction to get on the radial of your old correction from the point you left in space initially BAM there's a headache.

Yeah, it's more of an exercise in SA and for fun than for anything else in this day and age. I suppose you could always use it VFR to go from one point to another, or go direct to an airport as long as you knew it's relationship from a VOR (rad/distance).

But it's still kinda nifty.

True. It was all stabalized and completely within regs. The only thing was we were fast. Very fast and I had never been put in a situation where I had to slow something that powerful down in that short of time. The rapid descent was not on the approach phase. It was within a close milage to it which was why the descent was made. We then leveled out around 240kts. Then the decisions came on the best way to slow it down more. The debate between us was if it would have been better to maintain altitude with lowe power to bleed off, dump flaps at 210kts then gear at 176kts(which would have taken time at while going so fast we would have eaten up valuable milage) or to simply nose her over. From the point i was given the odd clearance to the point I was on the ground it was practice. To do something I had never done in a machine I had never done it in while someone very knowledgeable oversaw the exercise. Several times we could have taken an easier route but I had never been in those situations and it would be a shame not to take advantage of them. One day I might be forced in one. He asked how I'd rather get down. I said I wasn't sure. He said pick one. So I did and tried it out. Since all this happened I'm sure monday he'll force me to do a quick descent the other way so I can find the answer. There were no PAX or anything like that. Just us two. I found out a lot about what the aircraft is capable of. I wouldn't think you could simply nose one on over like that. I'm use to the kind that get shock cooled ect. That's an important thing. The approach was never in question. The questions were A)How to do the specific radial from a specifc location on the 530/430 and B)Why on earth I was given that really lame clearance then held at high altitude for song long.

Maybe I forgot to say this. The kicker is the control thought it was odd too. When I wrote it all down and replied I looked at bossman like wtf?? and the same instant I did that the control said "Hey it's strait from houston, not from me". We were still on with albuquerque. I know we were about to be handed off to Houston but that was for another 10 min or so and we were right ontop of the mexican border in the middle of the desert. Just thought it was all strange. Didn't see any UFO's though

Laughlin approach pulls that crap all the time flyin' into DRT. They dump us in high on a radial all the time.

Don't worry about the critical comments, you did the right thing in asking and learning how to handle it in the future.

I'm sure the old man knew how to do it and was just seeing how you'd handle it. He did nothing knowing that you were so close to the course that there was no harm in it.

Fun doin' a "chop and drop" in a turboprop, huh? ;)

Absolutely....

Fosters have you ever submitted your handwriting to say.... the FBI for analysis?

First off, I just want to say thanks for asking the question TD...I havent used a panel mount GPS since training, and had completely forgotten about tuning in a point in space like that.

Now on the other hand, I think that the CA should have corrected you during the maneuver, rather than letting you proceed with it, when you obviously didnt know how to correctly do it. I think if you had simply asked ATC for a vector to the 310/60 fix, it would have saved alot of "what if im doing this wrong" heartache. All in the name of saftey.

The approach?...no real comments, except vectors slightly further out could have been more beneficial. In my limited experience, it seems better to have dumped in your drag before beggining the descent. would have helped ya get down =) But it worked out alright, so...

Good luck and fly safe!

I'm getting a little lost now. You say that you were flying, talking to ATC, and writing down the clearance? What was this so-called 25,000 hour professional in the other seat doing? If he had availed himself to doing something other than folding his arms and watching you squirm, you wouldn't have been as behind the airplane. I'm just not sure I get it.