ferris
Having access to MATS Part 1 is an invaluable document for any flight crew member and it is often nice to find the source of many procedures that we face on a day to day basis. The fact that it is a document for ATCOs only is irrelevant since a puzzled pilot with a burning question can find it just as useful as an ATCO can!
Pilot Pete
Your topic of being able to stay higher for longer will always be a burning issue. I suspect that as airspace gets busier we will be in a position where we won't be able to operate our aircraft as efficiently as we would like. With CDA techniques being a hot topic and used at many UK airports, the fact that we are kept at lower levels for longer in a way negates the effort that we put in to our CDA arrivals!