Okay so in my A380, when I’m going to cruise at FL380 and gets there, it suddenly starts descending uncontrollably with the nose up
For example on my current flight
Is there a limit with the A380? Like what
You’re almost certainly flying too high for your weight, FL380 is very high for anything other than extremely low weight for basically any aircraft in the sim. On longer flights you need to step-climb up to your final altitude. If you use the Simbrief integration it’ll automatically set altitudes for you. Otherwise, on long flights,start by climbing to a lower altitude (FL300-FL330 for example), cruise there for a few hours, then climb to FL340-FL360, and don’t go up past that until a few hours before descent.
Were you at MTOW? The reworked A380 is pretty cracked in terms of cruising altitude, hitting 36,000 feet at MTOW and flying efficiently at 38,000 feet at 80% load. My guess is thay it’s too much vertical speed. Tone it down. Try not to have the throttle directly at 100% adjust it so it flickers between 99 and 100% if you must just so you Mach speed is maintained and doesn’t start decaying. With a decreasing IAS maintaining a specific Mach, the last thing you need is for the Mach speed to decay as well. You’ll lose sufficient lift. I doubt you were too high, but if your load is too high for FL380, it would help to know.
I don’t think you would have a problem maintaining FL380 uptil 60% load at 0.84-0.85 mach cruising speed, the fuel flow burn you need to typically aim is at being below 11,300kg/hr at this altitude.
Whereas anything below FL380 you should be aiming at fuel burn rate below 11,600kg/hr and expected mach speed less than 0.84 typically.
This is partially correct even at ultra long haul flights (12hrs+) you would start usually at FL320 or 330 and as you step climb you would be at FL380 or more with around 4-5 hrs left from the destination.
Just keep in mind to check fuel flow on the status bar and adjust the speed and alt accordingly. Afterall your aim should be to burn less fuel with ensuring you have over 15 tonnes (15,000kg) of fuel after you land as per Emirates operator rules.
Now to validate my fuel burn rates you can check efob matching across your route on simbrief ofp and ensure your cost index for long hauls and ultra long hauls set typically between 80-120.
I mean my flight was from OMDB to KIAH, how long is that and is that a bad thing?
That’s a very long flight for the A380. You would want to start off probably at FL320 (maybe FL340) but no higher.
If you use Simbrief, it will tell you what altitude and speed to cruise at.
How do I download Simbrief?
It’s a website.
There we go, now I have to pay. Might as well make my own flight plans 
Actually Simbrief offers a free version too.
Once you logged in with Navigraph, you do get directed to a page offer to pay for their subscription (with additional perks of accessing the latest AIRAC and Jeppesen Charts). However when you go back to the Simbrief site, you can still access it for free.
You don’t need to pay to use it, scroll to the bottom after logging in and there’s a continue to free version
Use flight radar 24 and filter a380s and look for flights with similar destinations and you would be able to see their step climbs (playback feature) which would give you a rough idea to find optimum altitudes. Also if you haven’t tried simbrief please do check out and here’s the guide on how to use it.
Actually, you can go higher. FL360 is optimal right at MTOW going west (350 east). It burns less fuel. Just don’t go above 370 and the plane shouldn’t have a problem. Remember, our aircraft is NOT the same as SimBrief’s and 99% of the time we have super efficiency on our end. Mold SimBrief to the IF flight model, not the other way around
There’s only so much you can do - there’s the weight limits, fuel burn factor and stuff like airline cost index (which can affect what altitude/speeds Simbrief gives). Also it’s worth reminding that Simbrief goes for the most efficient profile based on a multitude of factors (not just fuel burn) - if cruising at say FL320/FL340 at MTOW results in a more efficient trip than cruising at FL360 if possible (say because of winds as an example), Simbrief would choose the former. It will not always go for the highest altitude the aircraft could technically achieve under the configuration at that moment.
This is assuming there are no winds, which is obviously not realistic. They have a considerable impact on what altitudes are actually the best.
Probably one of the most glaring examples of this in real life is westbound flights over Japan. It’s not uncommon to see aircraft on these routes cruising very low (especially in the winter, sometimes as low as 22-24000ft on short-medium haul flights) to avoid the worst of the headwinds.
It’s a complicated bit of layering that basically boils down to - which altitude (depending on the plane’s direction) is the best combination of ground speed and fuel burn.
??? theres nothing
Go to SimBrief - Dispatch and login.
It’s free.
