Very interesting post diving duck, and some very pertinent replies from all you folks too. My 2 fils worth:
A100 with 70 to touch
That is
very low even on a 330. The guy must have got his calculations wrong.
Higher aircraft will have a higher TAS for a given IAS
Very true. The 330 is an amazing glider hence the very flat and long descent profile, well below other aircraft.
Someone mentioned that trainers encourage newbies to be conservative. This is the case because most new joiners have very few sectors to fly before being released to the line hence it's preferred if they first learn how to avoid being caught hot and high on what is an almost abnormally slippery aircraft rather than conserve fuel, which should (inshallah) come with more experience on type. ( This, however is not to say that A100 with 70 miles to run would be acceptable on a training flight, I'm just saying being a bit more conservative than an experienced line pilot would be) The simulator course does nothing to teach CDAs because the program involves mostly circuit work or aerial work close to the airport. The company policies don't help either - especially the one which requires us to fly a slow FMGS economy speed. It's OK to do that in a non-busy environment like Karachi etc but forget it if you're flying into DXB, LHR and so on - .8M/300 kts is then the best planning speed.
ek drivers are under considerable management pressure to minimise fuel burn
Stuff management pressure. I try to save gas because it's professional and also environmentally friendly
. And because the more fuel in my tanks the happier I am......
On a final note, the arrivals procedures into DXB are not too helpful either (not trying to criticise - just making a point
). On different nights we have different procedures - sometimes holding, sometimes long vectors and so on, so it's a bit hard for us to anticipate. I still think that a new holding pattern somewhere close to the runway, with an S turn onto finals like we get at LHR, is the way to go.
G'night all.