HowTo

From MetroAirWiki

Step Climb Tutorial

Here is one I dug up. This can be very helpful for getting a grip on flying medium to long haul.

Here it is:

Aircraft Performance A step climb can be a performance feature that allows a pilot to climb in a series of steps rather than one long continuous climb. The step climb technique is more efficient for Long-Haul aircraft that are heavy at takeoff and need to burn off fuel before climbing to final cruise level. The flight plan will usually indicate a level change at a specific point.

Using language from the Australian ATPL course, a step climb is different from a drift climb technique in that the step climb is deliberately delayed until the point when a climb can be made directly to the new level at climb speed at climb thrust. A drift climb occurs at cruise power, and cruise speed.

To accommodate a drift climb a pilot can request a block level, and ATC can approve it.

Aircraft Separation Here a step climb is predominantly used in a non-radar environment as a means to accommodate a climb between two aircraft whilst maintaining separation. The lower aircraft is assigned a level already vacated by the higher aircraft, and the higher aircraft is advised of the lower aircraft step-climbing beneath them. As the higher aircraft climbs, the lower aircraft is allowed further climb in steps beneath it.

Two pilots when mutually separating from each other can use this technique.

Expanding... A step climb is a performance feature that allows a pilot to climb in a manner that best suits in-flight changes that affect performance such as load change due to fuel burn, WX, etc. This is usually in the form of a series of steps rather than one long continuous climb.

Ordinarily when a pilot receives a clearance to climb to say FL410 they are required to maintain a minimum rate of climb and are not permitted to level off during the climb. ie NO STEPS.

Obtaining a clearance for a BLOCK LEVEL allows the pilot to initiate their own step climbs to best suit performance as long as the aircraft remains within the cleared BLOCK LEVEL.

Another BLOCK LEVEL can be requested when required.

From the above you can see that although a BLOCK LEVEL can be used at any time, it is really only applicable to heavily-laden long-haul flights that are not in heavy traffic.

Block levels are used mostly in Oceanic operations where they allow some flexibility in avoiding turbulence and in executing step climbs. Blocks are usually 4000' thick and a pilot is cleared to cruise at any level within that block.

UA69 -> Request block level FL320 to FL360 BN RADIO -> From Control, cleared for the block FL320 to FL360

And when no longer applicable:

BN RADIO -> UA69 Cancel block clearance, climb (or descend) and maintain (level)

When making position reports the pilot is not required to state the exact level, just that he is "in the block FLx to FLy". Nor is he/she required to say if they are changing levels, as long as they remian within the block ATC can request a pilot to report their current exact level, which may become an issue if there is other traffic, however if that was the case then the block shouldn't have been issued in the first place.

There is no reason why they coulnd't be used over Australia, they are officially approved, it's just not a very common practice by Australian operators in those circumstances, usuaully due to the amount of traffic, if you take a block of 4000' on a flight between SY and PH you make things pretty difficult for any other traffic. In Oceanic ops they are used all the time.

Original Post: Stephen Lebrechthausen, JAN 05. VATPAC also have this information at: http://www.vatpac.org/forums/showthread.php?t=5410