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Old 30th Jun 2015, 20:35
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TlomasLjung
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
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FPA is the actual flight path angle of the aircraft. It is typically 3 to 4 degrees in a descent.

V/B is the required vertical bearing to reach the WPT/ALT. This would be an altitude restriction in the LEGS page that you could enter (or delete) manually or with the ALT INTV button on the MCP.

V/S is the required vertical speed to make good the V/B.

As you approach your ToD the FPA will remain at zero (because the aircraft is in level flight), but the V/B and V/S will both increase until the V/B is at about 3 to 4 degrees, or whatever the FMC has calculated is the optimum value. If VNAV is engaged the aircraft will descend with a FPA equal to the V/B. The actual V/S will however be slightly different to the computed V/S because V/S changes during the descent.

Read more about the FMC:
http://www.b737.org.uk/fmc.htm
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