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Understanding and Flying STARs
by Ed Verville
Recently, while flying the LUCKI 1 RNAV ARRIVAL with the Parker Transition into San Diego, CA
(KSAN) Airport, I heard the air traffic controller say, “Advise when ready to copy a phone number for a pos- sible pilot deviation.” An airplane ahead of us had missed a crossing restriction on the arrival and was now likely more concerned about filling out NASA Reports or ASAP Reports than f lying the airplane. Although most arrivals are relatively easy to f ly, some planning is necessary to ensure a safe and accurate descent profile.
At larger airports, SIDs and STARs are a way of life. You may attempt to write “No SIDs/No STARs” on your IFR flight plan as you were taught
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when you were working on your in- strument rating, but good luck with that, especially if you are flying into larger airports with higher-perform- ing aircraft. STARs can be assigned without requesting them. Some are relatively simple ones, but others are very complex arrivals with many altitude and speed restrictions. Of course, the intent of Standard Termi- nal Arrival Routes (STARs) is to tran- sition the airplane from the enroute environment to the approach phase. The STAR will typically end in one of three ways: flying directly to an Initial Approach Fix (IAF) from the STAR, vectors to an instrument ap- proach, or a visual arrival.
Descent planning involves some calculations, either with mental math
or the VNAV calculator on your air- plane. The FAA offers a recommend- ed rule of thumb to determine when you need to start your descent and how to determine a rate of descent (ROD) for a three-degree path. Di- vide the altitude needed to be lost by 300. For example, if you are in cruise flight at FL320 (~32,000 feet) and need to descend to 10,000 feet: (22,000/300=73). Start your descent 73 miles before your planned level- off at 10,000 feet. To determine your ROD, multiply your groundspeed by 5. 500 knots X 5 = 2,500 feet per min- ute rate of descent will be needed.
Here is a similar technique I learned in my early jet days that can be done quickly with mental math while flying a jet. The general rule