Hi I'm having a problem keeping the plane in the sky,

I climb up to 38000 feet following directions from ATC without problems

so from take off to 38000 feet its ok

after 39000 feet the plane just falls out of the sky no matter what I do

 

I have pitot enabled

 

When I ran FSX back in 2007 on a Microsoft XP pc I had no problems

 

Could it be windows 10 that's causing the problem?

 

Best regards

 

Gordon

Hello Gordon,

The flight-level you can achieve is based on a number of factors, including the planes current mass and speed. You don't mention which plane you are using here, but for example on the airbus a320 or Boeing 737, there will be a given maximum flight level (altitude) for it's current weight. If you try to fly above  this height, then the plane will simply stall and drop from the sky. There is a physical limit in aircraft called the "Coffin Corner" - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffin_corner_(aerodynamics)

Max altitude depends on your weight...... 

Thank you both for responses.  I don't get to go on the sim much maybe an hour in the evening as my wife has 2 brain tumours so all I do really is fly  (well try to) the boing 747-400 I will look at the weights

 

Thank you again

 

Best regards

 

Gordon  

Unless you are flying across an ocean to Europe or Asia there should be no need for 100% full tanks.  If your are just

doing 1 hour flights so you can get in a takeoff and landing in that time, drop your fuel load considerably.

For the 747-400 plan on 20,000 lbs. of fuel per hour of flight and then add an extra hour for safety.

thank you all for helping

WELCOME!

 

Glad to hear you've got it sorted. I cannot imagine what you and your loved ones are going through, but for that hour or so in an evening you can leave it behind.   

Hi Gordon,

 

All aircraft will have a service ceiling which depends on their weight and once you are close to that ceiling, particularly in jetliners, the difference between the cruising speed and stall speed becomes very small and just a slight drop in speed can resulte in you starting to to fall from the sky. The best approach if you are flying close to maximum weight is to ascertain the highest safe flight level for your weight and fly at that until you have used sufficient fuel to lighten your aircraft enough to allow it to climb to and cruise at a higher flight level. Most airliners use this method of 'step climbs' on long haul flights, with many Transatlantic airliners starting their initial cruise at around FL 310-330 but ending up step climbing to perhaps as high as FL400 by the other side of the Atlantic.

 

So sorry to hear of your sad circumstances but hopefully your flightsim can provide you with the occasional hour or two when you can escape a little into our other world and recharge your batteries.

 

Bill