Arrivals, STARs, and Descent Planning

A Standard Terminal Arrival Route: a published, coded route connecting the enroute structure to the terminal environment, designed to reduce pilot/ATC workload.

Enroute transitions (multiple entry points), a common route (shared trunk), and runway transitions (branches toward specific landing runways).

Both lateral navigation and vertical navigation — fly the path and comply with all published altitude and speed restrictions, descending at your discretion between them.

Lateral clearance only. Fly the ground track but hold FL240; published altitudes are NOT authorization to descend.

Line above the altitude = at or above; line below = at or below; lines above and below = at; two altitudes with lines = a window (cross between them).

No — they are planning information only, becoming binding only in the event of lost communications. Boxed speeds (e.g., 250K) are mandatory when descending via.

Distance needed (NM) = altitude to lose in thousands of feet × 3. E.g., 11,000 to 3,000 = 8,000 ft = 24 NM (plus a mile or two of pad).

FPM ≈ groundspeed ÷ 2 × 10. 120 kt GS ≈ 600 fpm; 180 kt GS ≈ 900 fpm.

Subtract the 3-to-1 distance from the fix's DME/distance. Needing 24 NM to cross a fix at 45 DME means starting down at 69 DME.

Descent distance depends on groundspeed; a 40-kt tailwind can turn a 15-NM requirement into 19 NM. Always compute with groundspeed, not TAS.

Transition, restrictions, speeds, expected approach, missed-approach altitude, and the airport diagram — plus loading the STAR and correct runway transition.

It doesn't work well aerodynamically — plan to be level or in a shallow descent to bleed off speed for a mandatory speed restriction.