Originally Posted by
le Pingouin
GA Driver, how many times have you been given a fix time into Sydney coming in through the ML FIR? Rarely. I don't work Brisbane so can't say how they do it from that side. I know because I work the sectors that feed into the sectors that do the sequencing. They use speeds, vectors with generally a 250 knot descent, and holding, not fix times assigned to aircraft to achieve the Maestro times. Into Melbourne coming from the south, clockwise around to north you'll usually be given a time with vectors to lose the rest, until we go to holding. I know because I work those sectors.
Few aircraft in the TMA? How many aircraft can you fit inside 30 miles when there's an average 2.5 minutes between arrivals onto say RWY 16? Correct, the answer isn't that many. If they're all coming from the north it's 5 or 6 with the first touching down.
That reads as very workload intensive. Go the feeder fix times as the first option then apply vectoring/holding iff needed.