Originally Posted by
cxorcist
If I were in training (which I never will), I would insist my trainees know the approximate track miles to touchdown and correlated altitude at all times. It is much the same as knowing what airport to go to at all times if there were to be a severe emergency enroute requiring an immediate diversion. At the end of the day, it is basic airmanship.
Exactly right. That and knowing the basic attitudes for all main phases of flight are the absolute foundations of our job. I must be becoming a dinosaur.