FMS abeam points
A question which may result in more opinions than facts, but I hope for the latter. You are cleared DCT XYZ. This could be e.g. >200nm. Use LNAV. To avoid having an empty screen and following a magenta line to who knows where, you select ABM's and clean up the route to e.g. 60nm segements. Will the a/c indeed fly DCT XYZ or a sequence of shorter straight lines? I've always used ABM's for situational awareness, time/fuel keeping etc. It is not unusual to have DCT followed by more DCT's and never overfly a wpt for checks. I've heard some operators forbid the use of ABM's and wonder why. You could enter a significant wpt in FIX for cross checks; you could even use the ABM function of the fix page to create a wpt for checks. What's the difference between that and using the AMB function of the DCT to LEGS page in the first case. I've asked various trainers and heard many opinions. Where's the truth, and what would be the danger of selecting ABM's such that it is forbidden?