How do you do a step climb?

[Guest]

I just read that airbuses need to step-climb to reach their flight altitude. I'm doing a flight where my altitude is fl350 but if I try to ascend straight to that my plane loses too much airspeed over fl300 and just crashes. So how do you do a step-climb where I can burn some fuel off before I ascend higheR?NOTE: I'm flying the posky a330-300 with 24000 gal of fuel

[Guest]

>I just read that airbuses need to step-climb to reach their>flight altitude. I'm doing a flight where my altitude is>fl350 but if I try to ascend straight to that my plane loses>too much airspeed over fl300 and just crashes. So how do you>do a step-climb where I can burn some fuel off before I ascend>higheR?>>NOTE: I'm flying the posky a330-300 with 24000 gal of fuelWell your question has many answers, but more info is needed, although I'm not an expert on airbus planes but heres my question for you...What panel are you using? The only way I know of to accomplish a step-clim is inconjunction with the FMS. Also take watch of your VS (vertical speed) after you cross about FL200 your climb rate should be equall to or under 1500fpm, and also this depends on what panel you are using, I know that FS uses a default 1800fpm, which is really unrealistic depending on the circumstances. But try working with the FMS, and see what you come up with.Hope this helped a bit.Pilot737

[Guest]

panel is Airbus_A330_A320Luxury_liner doesn't have an FMS tho

[gosta 0]

Hi Adam,when fully loaded with pax/cargo and fule, every plane needs to step-climb, not only Airbus. Basically, you calculate your optimal altitude according to weight, weather etc. If you're using a panel like PIC, the FMC will do that for you.As you're losing weight, your optimum altitude will increase - the most economical eay to fly would be by doing a 'cruise climb', which means that you're constanly climbing at a very slow rate (say around 50fpm) during your entire cruise to maintain your optimal FL. In reality, the only passenger plane that does that is the Concorde, as it flies at very high altitude on specially designated tracks. At lower altitudes, the presence of other traffic prohibits that. Here, you need to check the valid flight levels for the airspace you're flying in. Over the continental US, it's even numbers going West, and odd numbers going East, but there's 2000ft separation of opposite traffic above FL300, so you have westbound: FL280, 310, 350, 390, 430 and eastbound: FL290, 330, 370, 410. Then NAT tracks are in one direction only, so step climb increments are reduced to 1000ft, so you may find valid FLs like 310,320,330,340,350 etc. Over European airspace, RVSM rules apply, which means minimum 1000ft separation all the way, even above FL300, so your valid FLs are westbound: FL280,300,320,340,360,380,400 and eastbound: FL290,310,330,350,370,390,410. In some countries, like France, Portugal, Greece etc., the distinction is not between east- and westbound, but north- and soutbound. To add to the confusion, over Russian airspace, metric FLs apply, so you get westbound (in feet): FL283,315,348,381 and eastbound: FL266,299,331,364.So, basically, calculate your optimum cruising altitude, then select the nearest valid flight level, then climb as your optimum rises, and a closer valid FL is available.Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

[Guest]

HeyI don't have the PIC panel but are there any good freeware FMC's I can download to do this? Will it also calculate the fuel needed for the trip for specific aircraft...b/c i need that too :)I think i got the step climb thing accomplished....not all official "legal" altitudes like you had said but I'm happy I can at least get to my cruise altitude. I guess one problem with step climbing in fs2002 is that ATC gets annoyed when you don't go direct to ur cruise altitude...they always say "please expedite climb" then just cancel my fp...but thats not a big deal...just don't contact center and you're good.

[gosta 0]

Hi there,the FMC would be specific to the aircraft you're flying, so you couldn't just take a 767FMC and put it in an A320, all fuel and weight calculations would be wrong. I believe Lonny Payne released a freeware 757/767 panel that includes a basic FMC. I haven't tried it myself, but people are saying good things about it. However, don't try to use it with an A330, you would really have to take a 757/767 (Continental and Condor, for example, really fly 757s across the Atlantic).Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg P.S.: As far as FS ATC is concerned, in FS2004, you will be able to request FL changes en route, among other things :).

[Guest]

You need to find yourself a copy of Tom Corson's FMC and the associated soundset (available here and on flightsim.com) - it was originally written for FS98 but still works for FS2000 and FS2002. Basically, you add the gauge as a window in your panel.cfg file, chose the aircraft you are flying (it has 727/737/747/757/767/777/MD8x/A320/321/330/340 in it), select the ZFW of the aircraft, and let it do the rest.It will display the appropriate Vspeeds prior to takeoff (select autothrottle and click on the Vspeeds block while in the T/O Mode - not Taxi Mode) and will, as you accelerate, call flaps up settings and allow you to select the climb speed (typically, you climb at V2+10 up to 1500 ft, set climb thrust and at 3000 ft, retract flaps, at which point you can the accelerate to whatever the limiting speed is (typically, 250kts below 10,000 ft.). When passing a certain altitude, it will then highlight a Optimal and Maximum flight level. Note that for the 757/767 (I don't know what others, since I haven't tried all of them) it allows you to set the correct N1/EPR speeds for climb thrust.It has several "modes" - Taxi, Takeoff, Climb, Cruise, Descent, and Landing that automatically change upon specific conditions, or by manual selection.This little gem is *very* useful, but could do with updating of the lookup tables that are apparently part of the gauge, to allow for setting Climb N1/EPR for all of the aircraft. However, I've sent Tom Corson a few emails about this (including providing data), but have never received a reply from him - I assume he has abandoned it.