AT, TAT, MAT?

What skills do we need to fly a MAT or TAT? As you know it's a wormy
little problem involving several variables; time, distance, altitude
required, wind, speed-to-fly and where's the stinking lift? We are
required to choose the final-turn point (or point-to-turn in a TAT) so
that the final leg will consume the rest of the alloted time with
sufficient altitude to traverse the remaining distance home into an
unknown wind and get there on time! These tasks involve a very
difficult navigation problem; Controlled ETA to a destination in an
aircraft with no visable means of support. Wow! I don't know how we
do it and frankly I couldn't do it very well without my trusty SN-10.
It gives me reliable winds and a running display of time remaining,
distance remaining and altitude required to finish any task I have
dialed in. How do we get better at flying TAT's and MAT's? Practice,
Practice, Practice, and get the best airborne computer available, not
cheap but worth every penny.
JJ

noel.wade wrote:
Just a clarification for those that might be mis-interpreting some of
my comments: I'm not dismissing information or ignoring it or having
it go "over my head"... I just never stop asking questions or digging
for deeper understanding - sometimes in new directions, sometimes by
trying to refine previous answers or by trying to define special cases
or exceptions to general rules. :-)

Thanks for the continuing good info,

--Noel