Step climbs are normal. The plane calculates step climb recommendations based on weight, distance remaining, winds, etc. The CAS message is just a reminder - and it is left up to the Pilot to decide when or if to initiate a step climb.
You can control the step climbs on the FMC. By default it will say “ICAO” which are 4000 foot increments. You can enter “R” for 2000 foot increments, or “1000”, or to clear step climbs, enter “0”
So, if I enter FL310, what does that amount to? Does the plane tell me to climb regardless of what I set? That’s a bit wrong, no?
I’m super-impressed with the performance of this add-on. With ~400 cabin seats being rendered, I was fearing it might be on the heavy side, but it really is on par with the 737 (which happens to be 1 of the most fps-friendly airliners in any case).
If you leave a value for STEP on the VNAV CRZ page, it will always calculate step climbs for you. If you do not want to step climb, set where it says RVSM to 0.
OK, so when in cruise what’s the recourse? Cause if I don’t climb, the EICAS alert will remain.
The concept is this: the plane is more efficient at higher altitudes (less air resistance, burns less fuel). However, if the plane is loaded with passengers and fuel, it is too heavy for the thinner air. So for longer flights, steps climbs are normal procedure and are suggested on Simbrief, and in the plane’s FMC (although by calculated differently for each).
The idea is you have an initial altitude based on weight. After some time, as fuel is burned off, the plane is lighter, and can climb to higher altitudes where there is less air resistance and/or favourable winds (complex calculations). It is up to the pilot to manually accept or decline the suggestion.
So if you look at this Cruise page, you’ll see I’m at FL390.
In the field labelled “Step”, I have entered “1000” for 1000 foot step climbs (the plane will then suggest climbs of 1, 2, 3, 4000 feet. (You can enter “R” for 2000 foot, or “ICAO” for 4000 foot increments)
On the right side, it is suggesting I climb to FL410 shortly. I can do so, or just enter “0” in the Step field to clear it.
PS: the “OPT” altitude is not used - it a very simplistic and legacy calculation that (if I understand correctly) Boeing used to have and left, but it is superceeded by the more accurate Step Climb suggestion. I believe that is how Working Title explained it.
Edit, guys sorry I took a photo from the 787 … lol, wrong thread.
If you don’t want Step Climbs, you can just enter “0” in the STEP field on the FMC, on the VNAV > Cruise page. The STEP field is also on the initial INIT PERF pages when you are setting up the flight. It will have ICAO by default, but you can enter 0 and there will be no step climb suggestions or CAS messages (but you’ll burn more fuel at lower altitude)
Is there a way to stop the checklist alerts completely?
I uploaded my Procedures/Checklist for the PMDG 777 and a black Cockpit Mod on flightsim.to
Cheers
Anyone finding autopilot VS mode to be really slow to react and unstable, really struggling to stick to the commanded VS?
If you are flying at FL310 and the aircraft’s weight, combined with outside air temperature, means it will operate most efficiently at (say) FL370, (optimum altitude) then the plane will “suggest” a step climb. It’s not a “command” - you don’t have to do it.
There are certainly situations where climbing higher is not realistic. If you are flying a short route for instance, by the time you step climb, it might be time to begin descent. Or if ATC wants you at a certain altitude then a step climb might not be possible.
But, if you are doing a long haul and are flying at FL310 when the aircraft is telling you that your optimum altitude is much higher, why would you want to stay low? In that case your would be wasting fuel and not getting the performance that you could be getting.
The two are very similar.
The transition speed is usually 10 knots less than the destination airport limiting speed from the navigation database. When no airport limit speed exists, the default speed of 240 knots shows. When no altitude exists in the navigation database, the default of 10,000 feet shows. You can manually delete the SPD TRANS entry, but you cannot enter a new value in this field. If manually deleted the only way to repopulate this entry is by reselecting a cruise altitude.
The SPD RESTR field is used for pilot entered data. It may be used in addition to the SPD TRANS data, or instead of it. If a SPD RESTR entry conflicts with the SPD TRANS data, such as entering 250/10000, the SPD TRANS entry will automatically be deleted. If automatically deleted, deleting the SPD RESTR will subsequently repopulate the SPD TRANS field.
Common uses of the SPD RESTR field include entering 250/10000, as mentioned above, entering something like 250/6000 when cleared on a high speed descent (outside the US) or entering the min clean speed at a lower altitude, such as 225/4000.
Brilliant. Just what I was looking for.
Thank you.
You guys are awesome. Thank you for explaining this. In my case, I just entered a climb to 390 as suggested because I still had 400 or so miles to go before top of descent. Good to know that clearing the recall would circumvent that.
I’ve not tried V/S mode on climbs or descents yet as I’ve been letting VNAV do it’s thing, but last night I was coming into KMIA R12, and VNAV took me in higher than the (3000ft) expected to the approach height so I ended up with G/S below me 10 miles out. I switched to V/S and dialled in -1500ft/min, and as you say it was slow to respond and didn’t ever get to -1500ft/min. I had LOC then APP enabled at the time, LOC worked but G/S intercept was just not going to happen. I ended up doing a manual landing while scratching my head as to why V/S didn’t work. I assumed it was probably something I did though or something about the APP mode. 
Hello everyone,
I’m considering to buy the 777, would I be able to fly it quickly knowing the whole PMDG 737. Or is this a completely different plane regarding FMC etc.
Thanks in advance,
Bram
If you know the PMDG 737 and setting up the FMC then the 777 will be fairly straight forward. There really is very little difference between setting either of them up. The EFB perf calcs are all done the same way and you copy that data into the FMC in the same way. The only new thing in the EFB is ground ops. I’m enjoying it immensely despite my over familiarity with the 737.
Thanks for the quick reply! I’ll buy it soon!
Why the rush? The beauty of planes like this is the learning as much as the flying? I am also considering buying, and currently also have the PMDG 737s. I am expecting differences so just going to take my time and learn. It leads to longer term reward/satisfaction in my experience.
