I have a manual with procedures for normal takeoff. The paper says that when doing a FLCH below thrust reduction altitude by pulling the altitude knob, T/O CLAMP changes to T/O THRUST and automatic thrust reduction takes place at thrust reduction altitude.When I try this, CLB THRUST is announced as soon as the altitude knob is pulled below thrust reduction altitude.Did I misunderstand something here?Andreas

I have a manual with procedures for normal takeoff. The paper says that when doing a FLCH below thrust reduction altitude by pulling the altitude knob, T/O CLAMP changes to T/O THRUST and automatic thrust reduction takes place at thrust reduction altitude.When I try this, CLB THRUST is announced as soon as the altitude knob is pulled below thrust reduction altitude.Did I misunderstand something here?Andreas

Pulling the Alt knob below Thrust reduction altitude should give you CLB Thrust, not sure I fully understand you.Rob

This has bugged me for a while. The original poster is correct, the Flight Crew Operating Manual, Supplemental Procedures, Autoflight (p133) says:'Pull altitude select knob to allow thrust to reduce from takeoff rating to climb power when reaching CLIMB THRUST altitude as set in FMS. Pulling altitude knob before CLIMB THRUST altitude arms thrust rating to automatically reduce thrust when altitude is reached. If knob is pulled after CLIMB THRUST altitude, thrust will reduce immediately.' I've ran a few tests with different CLB THRUST reduction altitudes and the thrust reduces to climb thrust immediately you pull the knob either above or below the CLB thrust altitude set in the FMS TO page.Not a big thing obviously and isn't missed at all really as normally use PROF but it does look to be incorrect - unless I've missed something.

'Pulling altitude knob before CLIMB THRUST altitude arms thrust rating to automatically reduce thrust when'Nowhere near my MD11 docs but I don't understand why you would need to pull the Alt knob to arm CLB THRUST before thrust reduction attitude. Surely CLB Thrust is already armed hence the FMC entry of a Thrust reduction altitude?? However if you want CLB Thrust earlier or you are flying circuits with an incomplete FMC setup you can pull the Alt knob. Probably totally wrong as I'm going on Boeing philosophy.RegardsRob

Surely CLB Thrust is already armed hence the FMC entry of a Thrust reduction altitude?? [...] Probably totally wrong as I'm going on Boeing philosophy.

Boeings do it differently, climb thrust is armed and activated automatically and doesn't require any manual intervention to be triggered. Not so on the MD-11: If you never actively select a mode different to T/O, T/O power is there to stay forever.So, the T/O mode on the MD-11 needs to be aborted by a pilot action: Typically this would mean pressing PROF (if it wasn't already armed on ground), but pulling the altitude knob to issue a FLCH is just another method and according to my docs a common one. Only if T/O mode was changed, an automatic thrust reduction would take place.As a conclusion, pulling the altitude knob below thrust reduction altitude shouldn't switch to CLB TRHUST immediately, but in the sim it does, so I'm beginning to think that is simply a bug. Not a big thing, but a small issue for an almost perfect masterpiece of a plane...Andreas