[quote=PantLoad]Yes, the 737-200/300/400 were pretty much the same. If you were descending straight in (no downwind or base turn to speak of), you needed to be 35 miles from touchdown at 10,000 ft AFE and 250 kts. That gave you a 3:1 plus an extra five miles for deceleration and dirty up.
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Guys said that 250kts @ 10,000' @ 30 DME worked for the 727. Well, yeah it did, but you needed drag (ie early flap extension) eventually. For the 727 I used to use 33 or 35 DME to the runway (it's been a while and I havn't stopped drinking so my memory's faded
). S-80 was something like 37-38 DME. 767 around 41 DME, 757 around 43 DME @250 kts @ 10,000' with typical winds.
Perfect every time? Nah. Plus your dealing with Mother Nature but it's close.
767/757 FMC descent data (VNAV) is pretty good. You need to play with KIAS in FLCH in make it work out perfectly.
727 PDCS data was about 10 miles off from mid 30's. It would say 117 miles from 37,000' (why I remember that I don't know) but 107-108 would be perfect. If you started down at the PDCS generated point you needed power in the end game. I think it might have been based on gear/full flaps at the outer marker which isn't how most folks fly the jet.