What happened to :
"Extensive use of the FMC (heads down) should be avoided bellow 10.000ft" ? Our books mention this a couple of times.
My trick (ever since I started using this, my life became sooo much easier), is the following and it is for all types of Boeing (prob Airbus too).
A/p engaged. When time's up on downwind, I turn the hdg sel knob ALL THE WAY to rwy QDM, corrected fro wind (no more than 10 deg usually).
Then I look on my map or ND and am looking at the white turn vector. (it looks better if your range is set at 20NM, because you see two lines instead of one). If the trend shows that I will undershoot, I change the bank angle selector to a smaller value (ie. 15deg). I continue fiddling with the bank angle selector until the projection shows that I will be right on the centerline.
If the at the start it shows that I will overshoot, in some types you can change from 25 to 30 degrees. If not, well, thats the best you can do. At least you know beforehand.
It needs to be practiced a couple of times before the first ever go. After that, it becomes 2nd nature.
I have never been criticised for using this technique by a TRE for the past 12 sim rides at least. They are so impressed form the outcome that there is little they can say
