Originally Posted by
Hooligan Bill
So you are telling me that at 6nm you can instantly bring the speed back from 180 knots to 160 knots and fly between 6 and 4 at 160? 180 to 6 will achieve the same thing.
On many occasions I will be at 160 before 4NM yes (NG).
But if you want extremes: on a 737 classic close to empty Vref can be below 120kts. A method not to get in trouble from 4NM (because you need to lose 40kts) is to start fully configuring at +7NM while keeping the speed high. When you start to reduce the speed at 6NM, you will quickly be at 160kts (at which point you will already be going for more flaps to have as much drag as possible for the final reduction).