747 Climb

[tsunami_KNUW]

Ok, so I haven't yet mastered flying the 747, but I was wondering how long does it usually take to climb to say FL350? Well any flight level above 30,00ft, lol

[Nexus]

20 mins is not too long...well it depends on your weight.
Fully loaded 747's will climb very slowly after 30.000ft, at times as low as 400-500 feet per minute in order to maintain the M 0.82 or whatever their climb speed is...I'm no wiz on the 747, perhaps some of the other 747 drivers can pinch in here

[tsunami_KNUW]

Well that's good  :) I noticed that it was getting harder and harder to climb (I kinda expected it) but I thought I was doing something wrong because in real world, it seems like they get up there with no problem, lol  ;D Thanks!

[IanK]

Hello,
have a look at the climb tables in the FM from here:

Aircraft Performance Data
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/hsors/FS_Soft/acftdata.html

Ian

[RIC_BARKER]

Yup, a fully loaded 747 will climb pretty slowly above 25,000ft.

You might consider "stepping" your climb to allow acceleration between climbs.

[garymbuska]

TSUNAMI  Rick Barker is on the right track. What I usually do when flight planning is to request an initial altitude of 20,000 fet or so then when at that altitude I request altitude changes in increments of 5,000 feet. This gives the plane a little time to regain any lost speed.

[Billerator]

Ive noticed that generaly in the sim it seems like a long time to climb up to cruise. When your the passanger it feels like a minute.

[Daz]

yeah u notice the pitch when u first take off as a passenger but then they made level off a bit and hard to make out if you are climbing or not although you probably will be. just a quick question.. how old is a 747-200 typically and should it still be flying?

just that i went to florida on a virgin atlantic 742 and it seemed quite old for a company that has said to have one of the youngest fleets. my guess would be about 1992? not up to scratch on the 747

[Billerator]

I think Virgin ordered their 747-200's in the late 80's.
Its not that old, if the passanger cabin is fine then they will keep flying it until it has flown out its life.

[Skittles]

One time during a flight home I asked the pilot on my way out what climb rate he used, he replyed with 3000-4000fpm depending on load.

[tsunami_KNUW]

Thanks for all your help! I've tried the "steps" technique on a 737 and it worked well.  ;D Now time to try it on the 747  8)