I've more or less mastered the correct t/o and climbout procedure by now and have been hand flying to the default MCP ALT 10000 using only the FD with TO/GA and then N1. I level off into ALT HLD mode at 10,000 and all's well at IAS 240/250.I now want to step-climb (manually, not using VNAV, etc.) beyond 10,000 to 15,000 and 20,000', etc., at IAS 280/290 and cannot figure out what the procedure is to depart the ALT HLD of 10,000 to do this using the FD.I dial in MCP 290 and it accelerates but what do I do on the MCP to get the FD to guide me upward to FL150 or 200? I tried all sorts of stuff just now and it didn't work quite right or well. I ended up clicking CMD A on, hitting LVL CHG and then deactivating the AP and hand flying up. But I am sure that's wrong.Appreciate any guidance (literally and figuratively) on this item, thanks!JS

Select your new altitude in the altitude window, hit LVL CH, make sure your selected speed is 290, follow the FD bars.

Dan, thanks for posting. Will try this and hope all goes normally.Cheers!JS

Dan:Yeah, it works. Great stuff. Thanks for your post again.I can even turn on the AP for LVLCHG and then disconnect and climb in FD mode now from any altitude. And descend in FD mode. This is a fantastic piece of systems modeling by PMDG.JS

JS, Glad to be of some help. Once you have a fairly complete understanding of how things work with the NG you get a great feeling of satisfaction doing the things the real guys do day in and day out. I normally clean the aircraft up and then engage the autopilot, instead of flying it by hand to higher altitudes, but usually disconnect the autopilot at 10000 on descent and bring it in by hand. That's the great thing about FS....you don't have to really follow any SOPs and can fly it the way you want to. I just get more thrill out of doing it by hand below 10000, especially when the airport is socked in in overcast and fog and you have to keep your eyes on the PFD.

Agreed.Actually, I have to say that by now the NG feels about as good to the eye as the level D sim I did with UNITED in Denver. It seems to be remarkably accurate now that I am "getting" the FD mode better and understanding increasingly well the various FMA readouts. All this time I've not really paid a great deal of attention to them, but now they mean something more significant.I see myself doing more hand flying with this puppy now--up to 10,000 and down from 10,000--because it just works so amazingly well. Today I hand flew up to 30,000' in 5000' segments to practice the FD mode, the AP interaction with LVL CHG--engage and disengage--as well as several takeoffs and climbouts to perfect the thrust reduction and flap acceleration procedures. Thanks again and Cheers!JS

This may be a stupid question, but what are the FD bars?Phil Samitt

Flight Director bars are the two magenta bars on the main display, on top of the artificial horizon, which display the roll and pitch inputs required from the pilot if he/she wishes to fly the autopilot (or other system set) path manually.