It appears that ATC have little regard or understanding of how slowing a jet down effects the descent profile, or how most modern jets have some form of FMC that needs programming and monitoring.
Eg. It used to annoy me when I would put the star into the box, with a descent speed of say 300kts standard. This would have the box compute a descent pt of x miles. We go down at x, then atc say slow to 240kts. This totally screws with the profile and as you slow to best lift/drag you need a sh.t ton of drag to get down.
On the 717 it was doable, on the 330,man , it is an ass puckerer.
If you (ATC) know it is going to occur (speed reductions) let us know early when you give us the star.
On a another note (for Alice Springs)
Changing circuits, ht reqments, radial intercepts and even runways below 5000ft is a recipe for pain, as one has to have ones head in to program the box. It is not as flexible as when flying a cessna.
