Arrival Procedures

Airspeed/V-speed ±10 knots, but not less than reference landing approach speed (VREF) if applicable; heading ±10°; altitude ±100 feet, accurately tracking radials, courses, and bearings (AA.VI.C.S10). The VREF floor is the transport-category tell: on an arrival you're decelerating on a schedule, and the standard forbids buying tolerance by getting slow. You must also adhere to airspeed restrictions required by regulation, procedure, aircraft limitation, ATC, or the evaluator (S8) and establish descent rates consistent with the route segment, airplane operating characteristics, and safety (S9).

• "Cleared HADLY ONE arrival" — lateral routing only; charted altitudes are not authorized
• "Cleared HADLY ONE arrival, descend and maintain FL240" — descend only to the assigned altitude and hold it until cleared lower
• "Descend via the HARIS ONE arrival" — fly the lateral path and descend per the charted altitude restrictions
• "Descend via … except cross BRUNO at one three thousand then maintain one zero thousand" — the arrival with named exceptions, then the assigned altitude
• "Proceed direct MAHEM, descend via the MAHEM TWO arrival" — direct to the fix, then lateral and vertical per the chart

The ACS's added risk element is exactly this: ATC instructions that modify an arrival or discontinue/resume lateral or vertical navigation (AA.VI.C.R5). Restate what's still yours to fly and what just changed.

Not by themselves. Expected altitudes and airspeeds on a STAR are not part of the clearance until ATC includes them verbally — a STAR is a published routing that does not have the force of a clearance until issued specifically by ATC. MEAs printed on a STAR are not valid unless stated in the clearance — or in cases of lost communication (IPH ch. 3). That last clause is the arrival version of the comm-failure question (AA.VI.C.K4): radios gone, the charted altitudes come alive as your minimum IFR altitudes under 91.185(c)(2).

STARs typically include a descent gradient of about 318 ft/NM — about three degrees — varying to meet altitude restrictions, and they allow deceleration segments at waypoints with speed restrictions, typically adding 1 NM of distance for each 10 knots of speed reduction (IPH ch. 3). Rules of thumb for the raw-data cross-check: divide altitude-to-lose by 300 for the distance to start down, and multiply groundspeed by 5 for the 3° descent rate — 120 knots means 600 fpm (IPH ch. 3). If the box's path and your mental math disagree, believe the disagreement and investigate.

RNAV STARs are designated RNAV 1 or RNAV 2; the designation appears in the chart notes. RNAV 1 STARs carry higher equipment requirements and often tighter RNP tolerances, and require pilots to use a CDI/flight director and/or autopilot in LNAV mode while operating on RNAV courses (IPH ch. 3).

Setup sequence:

1. Load the arrival from the current database (S4)
2. Verify legs against the chart
3. Set the guidance for the arrival (S2)

Know what your VNAV path is built from — aircraft performance, approach constraints, weather data, and weight — computed from top-of-descent to the end-of-descent waypoint (IPH ch. 3).

Nav-system fundamentals — orientation, interference, signal integrity (K5) — are unchanged from the instrument rating and covered in the IFR guide; the ATP delta is verifying the airplane and crew meet the arrival's RNAV 1 or RNAV 2 requirement before accepting it.

On the charted arrival or vectors, ATC provides IFR separation — but the ACS keeps the responsibility to use see-and-avoid techniques when possible on you (R3), and an arrival descends you through the busiest traffic mix of the flight, often in and out of visual conditions. The paired risk is the equipment (R2): the traffic display and its alerts supplement the scan, they don't replace it — they only show traffic equipped to be seen, and display range and update limits mean the picture is never complete. The departure-side version of this contract is developed under Task VI.B; the arrival deltas: eyes outside whenever the weather allows, and identify the traffic you're following before accepting a visual approach behind it.

The IPH's example schedule: plan 250 knots at 25 NM from the threshold, 200 knots at 20 NM, 150 knots at 15 NM until reaching gear and flap speeds — never below approach speed (IPH ch. 3). That last clause is the same floor the ACS writes into the tolerance (not less than VREF, AA.VI.C.S10). The planning point: energy is altitude plus speed, and a "slam-dunk" clearance that's fine on altitude can still be unflyable on speed — say "unable" early rather than diving and decelerating at the bottom.

Altitude is the highest, per route segment, of assigned, minimum IFR altitude, or expected (91.185(c)(2)) — and on a STAR the charted altitudes become valid minimums in lost comm (IPH ch. 3). At the clearance limit:

• If it's a fix from which an approach begins — start descent/approach as close as possible to the EFC if received, otherwise the flight-planned ETA (91.185(c)(3)(i))
• If it's not such a fix — leave the limit at the EFC, or if none, upon arrival over it, proceed to an approach fix, and begin descent/approach as close as possible to the ETA (91.185(c)(3)(ii))

Because the arrival is a critical phase of flight and altitude/course deviations cluster there. The IPH points at the sterile flight deck rules — no duties during a critical phase except those required for the safe operation of the aircraft, and no non-essential activity permitted by the PIC (IPH ch. 3, citing 135.100; the part 121 rule is its parallel). Company calls, PA announcements, paperwork — all deferred. On the checkride this shows up as crew coordination and checklists completed in a timely manner, without burying the monitoring pilot during the descent (AA.VI.C.S3).

Three questions, answered out loud as a crew:

• Lateral: am I still on the charted path, or on a vector? If vectored off, the arrival's altitudes and speeds no longer apply until ATC clears you to rejoin
• Vertical: what altitude am I cleared to right now — a "descend via" that was interrupted does not silently resume; expect ATC to restate the vertical clearance
• Speed: which restrictions were deleted — charted ones, ATC-assigned ones, or both — and what does the FMS think? The box may still command the old profile

Then make the FMS match the clearance, not the other way around. This is the automation-management risk (R4) in its most common form.

Monitor with the same raw-data habits the task grades for tracking (AA.VI.C.S10):

• Distance vs. altitude: divide altitude-to-lose by 300 for the distance a 3° path needs (IPH ch. 3) — check it at every crossing restriction
• Descent rate: groundspeed × 5 for the 3° rate; a rate wildly above that means the path is steep or the winds have shifted
• Next constraint: verbalize the next fix, its altitude and speed, and whether the airplane will make it — before the FMS has to prove it
• Deceleration: 1 NM per 10 knots (IPH ch. 3) — if the box needs to slow 60 knots in 3 miles, it won't

The MFD's profile awareness supplements this, but the barometric altimeter and the chart remain the authority.

The tasks in this Area share the ACS Appendix 3 briefing standard — cover what applies, then brief only changes later in the test. For the arrival, the load-bearing items:

• Runway and approach to expect — broadcast by ATIS or the controller when there are two or more published procedures, and possibly not provided when visibility is 3 SM or better and the ceiling is at or above the highest initial approach altitude (IPH ch. 3)
• Descend-via status
• Crossing restrictions you personally consider bust-risks
• Deceleration plan
• Transition from the STAR's termination — charted route to an IAF, or a plan for vectors if none is depicted (IPH ch. 3)

A STAR provides the transition from the en route structure to an approach gate, outer fix, instrument approach fix, or arrival waypoint, usually terminating with an instrument or visual approach procedure (IPH ch. 3). For STARs charted with radar vectors to final, look for routes from the terminating fixes to the IAF — if no route is depicted, have a predetermined plan of action to fly from the STAR's end (IPH ch. 3). That plan is also your comm-failure answer for the last ten miles: know which fix you'd proceed to and which approach you'd fly.