Step climbs and routing questions

[RPRIEVER 52]

Greetings all,I have a question regarding step climbs and how they get added to flight plans. I recently learned about the different abbreviations (M=mach, N=airspeed, F= flight level, and S= meters.....I've also seen "K"...what does that stand for...and are there any others besides those?). I also learned in this forum how to add those items to the middle of a flight plan to indicate a planned climb. However, I also see them added to the beginning of the route as well. I would guess this is the planned cruising speed/cruise level before any step climbs. I've never seen this before on a Vatsim flight plan. Is this limited to real-world ops? On vatsim, a pilot would enter the speed/altitude in the applicable boxes as he's filing his flight plan, so it wouldnt have to be entered in the route section. Am I missing anything here?Also....I've seen references to both "mach" and "airspeed" (and/or both "flight level" and "meters") in the same flight plan. Some examples:N0470F320 WOBUN DCT WELIN UT420 TNT UN57 POL UN601 MARGO UN590 SUPIT/N0471F360 UP58 ERAKA/M079F360 NATC YDP/N0457F360 N328C YBC DCT BLAKK DCT OMBRE OMBRE8N0465F350 SUTOK UP607 TEB UN623 LOVIK UM996 MOGRI UW538 PENAK/N0451F370 UW538 GANRA/N0453F350 UL980 TAMAK/K0839S1010 B947 UGADA R11 GUSLI/N0443F350 UM54 TAVRO M54 ADILA N82 ADANO N77 MAGRI UR654 ZAJ R654 SAV T207 SYZ G666 ORSAR B416 DESDIIs this because certain countries and/or regions require one over the other? If so, how do I find out what each region requires?Appreciate your help

[Samy Greve 0]

Hello Ron,K stands for Kilometres the hour.

[doylebob 0]

Greetings all,I have a question regarding step climbs and how they get added to flight plans. I recently learned about the different abbreviations (M=mach, N=airspeed, F= flight level, and S= meters.....I've also seen "K"...what does that stand for...and are there any others besides those?). I also learned in this forum how to add those items to the middle of a flight plan to indicate a planned climb. However, I also see them added to the beginning of the route as well. I would guess this is the planned cruising speed/cruise level before any step climbs. I've never seen this before on a Vatsim flight plan. Is this limited to real-world ops? On vatsim, a pilot would enter the speed/altitude in the applicable boxes as he's filing his flight plan, so it wouldnt have to be entered in the route section. Am I missing anything here?Also....I've seen references to both "mach" and "airspeed" (and/or both "flight level" and "meters") in the same flight plan. Some examples:N0470F320 WOBUN DCT WELIN UT420 TNT UN57 POL UN601 MARGO UN590 SUPIT/N0471F360 UP58 ERAKA/M079F360 NATC YDP/N0457F360 N328C YBC DCT BLAKK DCT OMBRE OMBRE8N0465F350 SUTOK UP607 TEB UN623 LOVIK UM996 MOGRI UW538 PENAK/N0451F370 UW538 GANRA/N0453F350 UL980 TAMAK/K0839S1010 B947 UGADA R11 GUSLI/N0443F350 UM54 TAVRO M54 ADILA N82 ADANO N77 MAGRI UR654 ZAJ R654 SAV T207 SYZ G666 ORSAR B416 DESDIIs this because certain countries and/or regions require one over the other? If so, how do I find out what each region requires?Appreciate your help

Hi,1). When Spd/Alt is listed at the beginning of the flightplan, this refers to the filed initial altitude (top of climb) and the speed until reaching the next posted speed/altitude change listed on the plan.2). Yes this is real world ops. (No idea about vatsim, sorry)3). You will see speed "N" and Mach "M" listed as the flight goes through different areas of control. (using your first example above, the NAT tracks are all M speed controlled while the portions over land are N speed controlled). 4). Not sure of all the countries that use the metric flight levels but I know China and Russia both use it.Note: Obviously the plan is just that, a plan. It is created by the airline's operations department using the predicted load and latest weather forecasts to get the most efficient routing (least fuel burn typically, sometimes the shortest time) but in real world operations you might find that the speed, altitude or position of the step climb that is actually cleared by ATC may differ slightly. (BTW - there are a few guys on here who actually work in flight ops for a living. Thanks guys)Bob.