LOU wrote on Jun 30^th, 2011 at 2:45am:

When ready to slow, just reduce the descent rate to near zero and the plane will slow pretty quick. 3 to 1 is a good ball park starting point. Remember to plan extra miles in descent if you have a tail wind. You can still use the speed brakes if you turn off the inboard spoilers, but try not to need them.

A question Lou. When you were flying the 707, did you use the rule - Ground Speed x 5 = Vertical Speed as way of determining your VS at the T/D?

i.e. Current Ground Speed at FL350 is 500. Using the 3:1 rule for T/D means that I need to start the descent at 105 miles from my destination. Now.
Using the rule GS x 5 = VS (500 x 5 = 2500) would mean that I need the VS to be 2500 feet per minute. As I get lower, my ground speed gets slower and so the VS should match. So at FL200 with a GS of 400 (400 x 5 = 2000) will mean that my VS should be 2000 fpm?

Any guide lines on this rule will be greatly appreciated. I do use this rule and I do find it quite helpful, but there are still times when I wind up too high and too close. I also do a lot of checks to make sure that at I'm maintaining the 3:1 rule as closely as possible and I find that I need to use the spoilers regardless. The fact that it is possible to turn off the inboard spoilers is new to me, but I will have to give it a try.

Mark