777 Nav display question

[Guest mccaba]

Hi,Yesterday I was flying the 777 EGLL to CYYZ. When I was nearing the Canadian coast cruising at FL360, I noticed a small circle with "s/c" beside it about 80 miles ahead on the magenta coloured flight line on the nav display. When I reached that point the s/c marker just stayed in top of the aircraft indicator on the display, tho I think it disappeared when I started to descend.Couldn't find anything in the docs. Did wonder if the s/c meant "step climb" but if so why would it appear so late in the flight ? I only had 75,000 kgs of fuel at t/o so was fairly light to start with.I took a screenshot, but not sure how to post an immage in here. Sorry.Drew

[Guest brand_da_man]

S/C means step climb.

[Guest mccaba]

>S/C means step climb.>Thanks. I've now realised that and found it in the manual. However, I'm still puzzled why it appeared on the ND when I'd been at my CRZ alt for over four hours.

[Guest Knikolaes]

Step climbs are only used when flying VERRRRRY long distances. For a trip like yours, 4 hours is not long at all. The FMC does not take into account the TOD, and will give you advice on the step climb based entirely on the weight of the AC and altitude at the time. It is entirely up to the captain wether to take the climb or assess that he/she is too close to TOD to even bother with it.As a personal rule, if I am within 45 minutes of my TOD, I do not bother with a step.As your aircraft gets lighter, that S/C will appear to recommend a new, higher crusing altitude :-) That's why it appeared after the 4 hours -- you had burned enough fuel to go even higher for optimal cruise.

[Guest mccaba]

Thanks for the explanation. It was only my second transatlantic flight, and the first in the 777. Probably could have climbed since I was still a good 3 - 4 hours from my destination. I'll know next time.Drew

[MarkRey 16]

Also once at final crz alt if you do not wish to step any further simply change STEP SIZE on the perf init page to '0' - you will get no further step advisories. I would think you should be able to do the same from the VNAV page but it does not work on the 777.regards,MarkXPHomeSP2/FS9.1/3.2HT/1024mb/X700pro256