How do I deal with step climbs?

If Cruise level is FL200 after loading from Simbrief, first two legs are that but after that  FLP says FL360.
If I change Cruise level to FL360 all navpoints are changed to FL360 that is wrong first two nav points should be FL200.

How do I do, is it ATC that will tell me when it is Ok to climb to FL360 or is it up to me to keep track of that. I have no idea how SC works IRL.

 

I wonder how to program step climbs in P2A
 

Forgot to add.....

I understand that on long flights like 10-12 hour and lots of fuel is burned so you get lighter then it is up to me
to ask for higher level because I can. ATC does not know that.

What I asked about is SC because of airway restrictions both lower and higher.

Enter the initial Cruise Altitude into P2A for clearance.

When you want to climb, request a climb from ATC and you should get it.  You can do this multiple times until you get to the final cruise altitude.

Dave

2 hours ago, Dave-Pilot2ATC said:

Enter the initial Cruise Altitude into P2A for clearance.

When you want to climb, request a climb from ATC and you should get it.  You can do this multiple times until you get to the final cruise altitude.

Dave

I have done that so far. Is it only the way? In other ATC I enter final Cruise level from start and ATC prevents me from higher because of restrictions.
But in P2A if I enter eg. FL360 as final Cruise altitude Validate says no because it violates restrictions.

Edited January 18, 20251 yr by PerWel

I am not complaining I like P2A very much and prefer to use it over other ATC. 😎👍

There is an option to avoid the restriction violation on the FltPlan tab of Settings.

Turn on the "Ignore Airway Altitude Restrictions" option.  That will prevent that problem.

Dave

For your IRL question, it's based on your weight. The idea is to climb up to 2000 feet above optimum and stay there until 2000 feet below it. When I first started flying heavies, we did it manually. Now, your first initial altitude might not be 2000 above optimum because of your altitude capability, traffic or other reason. Either way, you wait there until 2000 feet below and then put it on request. Based on fuel flow and performance, you calculate a time to climb. So, it may take 45 minutes to burn off enough fuel to climb up to 2000 feet above optimum. FMSs and FMCs will do that for you these days. Another option is the cruise climb cruise. This is rare in traffic heavy areas. If over the Pacific in austere locations or off the coast of Africa or Antarctica, you may be able to do it. Under some form of ATC, you would request a block altitude based on optimum being at the bottom of it. Like block FL250 to FL350. Or out in no mans land, you climb to it. Once at optimum, you set cruise power and she will climb on her own as she burns fuel. I can't remember off hand the actual feet per mile/minute it equates to. You are in a constant low climb staying with the optimum altitude curve. 

57 minutes ago, Dave-Pilot2ATC said:

There is an option to avoid the restriction violation on the FltPlan tab of Settings.

Turn on the "Ignore Airway Altitude Restrictions" option.  That will prevent that problem.

Dave

Thanks for info 👍

48 minutes ago, G550flyer said:

For your IRL question, it's based on your weight. The idea is to climb up to 2000 feet above optimum and stay there until 2000 feet below it. When I first started flying heavies, we did it manually. Now, your first initial altitude might not be 2000 above optimum because of your altitude capability, traffic or other reason. Either way, you wait there until 2000 feet below and then put it on request. Based on fuel flow and performance, you calculate a time to climb. So, it may take 45 minutes to burn off enough fuel to climb up to 2000 feet above optimum. FMSs and FMCs will do that for you these days. Another option is the cruise climb cruise. This is rare in traffic heavy areas. If over the Pacific in austere locations or off the coast of Africa or Antarctica, you may be able to do it. Under some form of ATC, you would request a block altitude based on optimum being at the bottom of it. Like block FL250 to FL350. Or out in no mans land, you climb to it. Once at optimum, you set cruise power and she will climb on her own as she burns fuel. I can't remember off hand the actual feet per mile/minute it equates to. You are in a constant low climb staying with the optimum altitude curve. 

Thanks for IRL info how it's done.😎