Originally Posted by
drooz
Slightly off-topic but what are your airline's policy in regards to the 'flight altitude' when requiring a step climb? Would you set the highest flight level anticipated or would you start with the initial cruise level and then increase it as you climb further?
My company suggests entering the initial cruise altitude and then changing it as you climb, to avoid unnecessary 'off-scheduled descent' warnings in case you forget to climb. However this means that you suddenly get a quite annoying pressurisation change in the middle of the cruise when the pressurisation logic changes from 7.8psi diff to 8.35psi (i.e changing cruise level from FL360 to FL380).
Would be interesting to know other operators thoughts around this.
Boeing practise advises to set the highest expected cruise level. Other methods of operations are also acceptable but a bulleted list of problems and risks arise and thus are not recommended.
If operating as per Boeing FCOM and FCTM, set the highest expected level. The descent checklist item AIR COND & PRESS should be used to catch it if not climbed to planned maximum. Worst case scenario you get an UNSCHEDULED DESCENT, a non-issue in most airlines these days.