Originally Posted by
matthewgamm
Hello,
Couple of questions:
Does the fuel burn increase if we climb higher than OPT FL, say to the REC MAX FL.
If so, approx. how much is the increase?
Reason I ask is, at times, in the climb, our planned cruise FL is not available, and the choice now is between a lower FL or close to REC MAX.
In a situation like this, is it better to accept the lower FL and be stuck there for who knows how long, or accept the REC MAX FL.
Either way, I reckon that we'd be burning more fuel than what was planned for.
How do we go about making this decision?
Secondly, on a long trip, when updating the CRUISE winds, do we insert the winds for all the FL's above us, or 2 FL's above and 1 FL below, ...
What is the recommended way of going about this, to get the most accurate OPT FL?
Thanks.
Hi,
Check FCTM NO-070-Step climb, that will give some food for thoughts. Other than that choosing a FL between your Opt and Rec Max can increase your trip burn up to 3%. Flying 4000 ft below your optimum can increase it up to 5%.