Thanks guys - I'm curious as to what you actually manage and what you "set" during the descent from cruise.
For example say you are cruising at 35000 ft mach 0.8 and your initial descent is to 20000 ft what actions would you take?
Do you set the Rate of Descent (say 3000 ft / min) and manage the target speed with engine power or set the target speed and manage the rate of descent to maintain this? .... or does the AP / FMC do it all for you?