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The Controller Said Thank You
Enroute to Pittsburgh still at cruise but with an altitude restriction. Frequency change. When my First Officer checked in with the new controller, he restated the actual restriction: “FL 330, cleared to cross 30 South of Morgan Town at 290.” The controller with some panic in his voice replied: “Start your descent now, expedite. It was supposed to be 30 South of Elkins at 290.” As I start to push the right buttons on the autopilot, I notice the DME. We are 6 NM away and 4,000’ high. This is before TCAS, so I had no way of knowing where the traffic was, but the controller’s tone indicated that I better get down and fast. I punched off the autopilot and pulled the thrust to idle while applying full speed brakes. The descent rate was awesome. The trick is to level it off without pulling any G’s. It worked. The Controller responded: “Thank you, thank you – I didn’t know an airliner could do that.”
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Piedmont Airlines - B-727 Captain - Late 80's
| 6/15/2004
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