I've been flying FS2002 for about 4 months and am making good progress at getting my planes back to earth in a somewhat elegant fashion after short flights (most of the time).  I like flying commercial jets and have always chosen short flights that seldom reach more than 19,000 feet.

The other day I decided to to do a full length monster flight that took me to 41,000 feet and mach .84.  That's when I realized that I had no idea what the procedure is is to get a heavy jet slowed up and into a normal approach at a reasonable altitude.  I started 100 miles out, but was still way too high and way too fast as I got close to the airport.

I haven't been able to find any specific help in my guidebooks, so could someone here please give me a step-by-step guide?  What do you do first?  How fast should you be at what altitude?  How do you plan your descent to fly straight into the approach and landing?  When and how do you use airbrakes?  Every time I've popped them while descending using autopilot, the plane has stalled and crashed.  As alaways, I thank the experts here in advance!

-Scott

First off I dont think planes have airbrakes im not sure (Correct me if im wrong) all I know of is Spoilers and Flaps and Autobrakes. Second Fly IFR (Instrument Flight Rules)  ATC (Air Traffic Control)  will guide you in at correct altitudes and then set you up for an ILS (Instrument Landing System) or you can request a visual approach but either way youll be able to land correctly if you fly IFR and Trim and setup your plane right for landing.

Also, do a search for "descent calculator" and download the program, which provides you with info on when to begin your descent (depending on various factors).

The typical Airliner descent is 10,000 for 30 miles.
So 30,000ft  is about 90-100 miles, etc. Base it on that & you won't go far wrong.
To start your descent 1st reduce your throttle -

Of course - this will all be done on AP in the real world. 

All airliners I know have airbrakes & these are used to slow the bird down primarily during descent.
Consult the manual for descent speeds.

no,airbrake,because it's used to slow down the plane in the air.

Decending a heavy should be done in increments. Step down from say, 30,000 to 20k, then 10k. Decrease the throttle to almost idle, and use your flaps to control your speed as you decend. Use your altitude hold on the AP to control your altitude and set the verticle speed to about -1800 f.p.s., but manually control your speed and heading. Keep a close eye on your speed. Don't stall. Remember to set your Nav radio for the VOR, then when close enough, switch to the ILS frequency and ride it down.
Try to keep in mind what would be a comfortable ride for your passengers.

  If you bring up the throttle quadrant in any airliner, there will be a lever marked speedbrake, I assume this lever controls the spoilers, it definitely helps you control your speed on descent.
ATI I understand your reasoning, but I can't seem to find the airbrake lever anywhere.

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Wouldn't that be a JAKE BRAKE?

Speedbrake/Spoiler/Airbrake, whatever ya'all call it, it does slow the plane down.  On my keyboard it's the / key (probably because that what the spoilers look like in profile).