Hi BOAC still here (though work beckons in a day or so) and have watched the demise (or drift) of this one.
I was literally on the point of trying to bring it back the other day but JD beat me to it (thanks for that, by the way) but his efforts were in vain.
Seriously though thanks for all the responsible opinions but all I really wanted was the answer to one question. I do know what the regs say and have discussed my thoughts over my Company’s SOPs in this area, but their answer has been that if we are ever instructed to “stop climb” while we are still below the transition altitude then that instruction will be:
“stop climb altitude 4,000ft” and not
“stop climb FL50” – (or FL48 or FL52 or FL what-ever to maintain separation).
Therefore I was hoping for an answer from an ATC chap(ess) to the question:
“The tricky thing would be to have to stop the climb after having changed to 1013mb. Would ATC instruct me to stop the climb at an altitude or a flight level? (bearing in mind, in this case, I am still below the transition altitude)”
Here’s hoping……………….
Cheers HP