Hi there, I've very new to Flight Sim and still working out the skills of flying...I'm in the default Boeing777 and currently have the Auto Pilot on and following the GPS flight plan and my ALT set to 28000. My problem is that I can never keep a stable altitude. Once it gets to 28000 the plane is always pointing upwards around 10degrees then gradually the nose points so high that I end up stalling. I increase the throttle and take the Alt hold off so I can gain altitude again. But then the same thing happens all over again once Im back up to 28000! I try to find the right air speed but I just cant seem to get it right.All I want to do is to leave the computer for a while on Auto Pilot so I can come back and check on the progress. At the moment I can't cause the plane is not stable enough and will most likely be in the ocean when I return to the computer!

You might not be aware that you need to decrease the climb rate as you increase altitude. I don't fly the B777 much so I can't give you exact figures but you probably need to be climbing at a rate of around 500ft per minute when you are getting near a cruise altitude of 28000. You should be decreasing the climb rate gradually or your speed will drop. Your N2 reading always should be around 90 to 95, never lower. You can more or less control everything with the climb rate. If the engines are increasing much above 90 you need to reduce the climb rate. When you get more used to it you can also level off at interim altitudes to gain speed but it should also be possible to get there without having to do this, depending on weight. As fuel burns weight decreases and it becomes easier to climb to higher altitudes. If you are aware of the importance of climb rates then apologies. You can't really leave the plane to sort it out for itself until you have the required altitude. Should take 20 to 30 minutes. But once you are there you should be able to leave it a while. I hope I've explained this so it will be easy to follow!

Thanks heaps for that. I'll give it a go. I'm not a pilot at all but Im interested in travel and airoplanes. Terms are still very new to me.Thank you!

My pleasure. Also forgot to mention that as the plane pitches up due to too low a speed, it increases drag and becomes much more difficult to gain speed again. If that happens you will definitely need to level off or even decrease altitude to regain proper speed. However it won't happen once you get used to the control of the climb rates. Also around that altitude (or a bit below it) you want to switch over to mach setting instead of airspeed to get a better idea of your speed. If you can maintain Mach 70 or more during the latter part of the climb you should be OK. Below 10000 ft keep just below 250kts, then lower the climb rate a few hundred ft per minute until speed increases to around 300kts and keep it there, consistent with the best N2 reading. Once you switch over to the mach setting you should have a decent speed reading.

You need to be at the correct weight and air speed to cruise successfully and with stability. Check the weight in the aircraft menu. A typical flight level for the Boeing 777 is 35,000 with speed in the range of Mach .83 to Mach .85, or 83% to 85% the speed of sound respectively. This would imply an Indicated Air Speed (IAS) of around 280 knots at 35,000 depending on weather and temperature. Your optimum gross aircraft weight for this model would typically be around 520,000 lbs at this flight level and your pitch (the angle of the nose relative to the horizon) should not exceed 2.5 degrees maximum although I think that all pitch angles are slightly off (exceeded) in FS jetliners because of the way things are modelled. So your cruise pitch, as we term it, in an FS9 airliner might be around 3 or even 5 degrees.As a double check for speed, bring up the GARMIN GPS and check to see that at cruise, your True Air Speed is in the range of 475 to 485 knots at FL350. If your cruise speed is significantly less, your pitch will increase and if it increases greatly, you will bleed off speed and eventually stall. This might be what is happening to you.Typically, you would not cruise in a 777 at FL280 unless ATC ordered you to do so for a very good reason or unless you had an engine failure. The typical cruise altitude range is 33,000' to 43,000' and an average cruise level for a long distance flight is 35,000. I've flown extensively around the world in the 777 in real life and know this is true.I have a small mountain of operations data for the 777 and have tweaked my flight models to fly as close to BOEING book as possible. The above is a rough guide for simming purposes. Post again if you need more specific details and I'll try to assist further.Hope this helps in the meantime.