Originally Posted by Aeroscat
For one I suspect he works for a company that likes you to work out and write down your own profile. I don't see the point and would rather use the profile on the chart.
Not at all. We were doing this before the distance/Altitude profiles were introduced into the Australian AIP some years ago.
I now use the charted table (if the VNAV is "not available"
) although it is easier to anticipate whole 100s of feet, especially on the tape altimeter.
The only problem with the charted table is it normally only starts at the MSA, so you have the problem I alluded to above; that of getting the aeroplane into a descent prior to, so that you're not pushing the nose over at the start of the profile. I use 300ft/nm back from the start of the table to get organised.