Can someone tell me what scalar affects how much difficulty the aircraft has in reaching its climb altitude?My MD11 climbs effortlessly with N rate not exceeding 80%. My A340, though, struggles up to FL 310 and is almost at full throttle. This is probably more realistic, but I prefer an easier climb procedure. Can somebody help?Thanks

What is the respective weights of the two aircraft?What is the source of the two aircraft - payware or freeware?I've found that step climbs make a DC-10 a pleasure to fly as I burn off enough fuel for the flight.I've not flown any A340's but what I've heard from others is that step climbs are essential in that aircraft.Of course, unless we are planning and 6 hour or more flight - we usually takeoff with way too much fuel weight.

Full tanks sure make you feel more comfortable though on a flight from San Francisco to Australia.... ;-)

Weight is 800,000 max weight. This is the payware A340's. My 747's have more weight, but they climb with relative ease.

The B744 has more thrust for it's engines than the A343/5/6 aircraft. Not much more for the later aircraft but still an advantage for the B747. Those are real world numbers and should be closely modeled in a payware aircraft.At 800K lbs - you must be flying an A345 or A346 because that is too much weight for the A343.The information I can find on the real aircraft is the that A340 series aircraft achieves some of its efficiency by not climbing directly to final cruise altitude - but by climbing in steps. Burning off fuel to meet the maximum allowable weight for various altitudes.I'd suggest you check the payware vendor forums for help because any fixes or configuration adjustments must be very specific for that aircraft.It may be a case of a payware aircraft being more realistic than a freeware aircraft.But always - watch the weight and make sure that FS does not think the aircraft is over the maximum.

Hi,Lower the empty weight value or increase the N1 thrust value in the aircraft.cfg file until it climbs as you wish. This will increase it's overall performance, but that shouldn't be a problem for you.Hope this helps,--Tom GibsonCal Classic Propliner Page: http://www.calclassic.comFreeflight Design Shop: http://www.freeflightdesign.comDrop by! ___x_x_(")_x_x___

Some excellent answers here already. If you only compare climb rates of two aircraft in same atmospheric conditions it's even simpler: a ferrari accelerates faster with the pedal halfway than a Fiat 127 with full throttle. See the point? :-)

I'm not here much anymore, don't know if and when that will change, but I thought I'd take a sec to jump in.Better than changing the weight, or changing the thrust, is to simply DECREASE the inlet area in the aircraft.cfg. It will still change aircraft performance, but should keep handling and takeoff acceleration, as well as acceleration to climb speed, fairly close to what they were before. A good place to start is halving the value. Pay attention to your N1 when you do reach cruise altitude and cruise mach, you really don't want it artificially low. Careful attention to inlet area may improve your climb without making the aircraft perform too far from reality--or it may bring it closer to reality, if the author of the FDE didn't adjust the number well.Regards,John