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Altitude against track miles

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Old 16th Oct 2006, 08:31
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Altitude against track miles

Does anybody have a quick rule of thumb for working out if you have sufficent TRACK miles to loose a given altitude?
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Old 16th Oct 2006, 09:10
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Distance = Altitude x 3
That's the short story, then you'll have to adjust for wind/weight and other variables.

Last edited by RYR-738-JOCKEY; 16th Oct 2006 at 15:01.
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Old 16th Oct 2006, 09:12
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Very crude way but learn your 3 times table.

Example: You are at 4000 feet. 3 times 4 is 12, therefore you need 12 miles. Give or take a little for tailwinds and headwinds and to lose speed.

30,000 feet you would need 90 miles (3 times 30) plus or minus the above. Allways better to be a little bit low (as long as its safe) than too high and have to work like a one armed paper hangar to get the height off!

Regards, bad credit......
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Old 16th Oct 2006, 10:02
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Easier still, 3 deg GP means 3000ft per 10nm; all aircraft should be able to do that or even slightly steeper.
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Old 16th Oct 2006, 21:19
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And if you lose all engines, use altitude x 2 as a starter.

Last edited by xetroV; 17th Oct 2006 at 16:29.
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Old 16th Oct 2006, 23:07
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Also keep in mind that you will often need a few more track miles if you need to loose speed before you configure/join a hold.

sr
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Old 16th Oct 2006, 23:15
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Altitude X 3 = distance

And in the Airbus its, +10nm for 300+kts to 250kts, and 10nm more for 250kts to green dot speed. Thats what i use and it keeps me just a little low for those 'just in case' moments like when ATC turns you early.

Thats worked for me everytime so far, never been too high for the approach, well nothing unmanageable
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Old 17th Oct 2006, 07:53
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And if all that doesn't work; swallow your pride, flap 5, gear down and a bit of speed brake.
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Old 17th Oct 2006, 12:45
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....and if you're really lazy, like me...

...on the Boeing we can select a 'metres' readout on the altimeter. This saves you dividing anything by three, as there are approx 3ft/metre. It's very lazy but worthwhile.
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Old 17th Oct 2006, 13:48
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Sorry to be a pedant, but it's LOSE height.

In an unpressurised aircraft I use time-based parameters. This allows me to plan on a RoD of 500fpm which is comfortable for passengers. So if I'm at 10,000ft and I need to allow 20mins to descend to sea level. I usually add a minute or two to allow for the speed increase in the descent. So, assuming no level restrictions, I'll be requesting descent from FL100 22 mins before destination.
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Old 17th Oct 2006, 17:39
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AERO STUDENT

You really are lazy!
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