Hi everyone,
I’m curious how you all deal with step-climbing during cruise.
It’s part of the game, but honestly I find it pretty annoying to constantly check the map to see when I can start the climb.
Does anyone have tips or a smart way to handle this?
Maybe there is an app or tool that can help by for example giving a notification before the step climbs?
Or should I not make a big fuss about it, and just accept it’s part of the game?
I’d love to hear how you do it!
I use In-Flight Assistant’s VNAV add-on, which I can program the step climbs into, and the aircraft will do so. Importing the flight from Simbrief also then highlights in the flight plan where the step climbs are.
Thank you for the suggestion. I will have a look at it. It’s a payed app right?
Yes it’s a paid app. I believe the app plus the VNAV add-on is $10 total (no subscription, one-time purchase).
@Jaxx look no further than @epaga ’s In-Flight Assistant, well worth the $10, been using it for years.
Does it automatically step-climb, or is it just a notifying application
If you set the altitudes, it will do it automatically provided the app is connected.
But it doesn’t work in AP+
And this is the pitfall of the app. It only works when the flight is constantly active and both apps are running. Right!?
This is the case for all third-party apps. They will only work when the flight is “active”, and I don’t see this changing because of the way AP+ works.
Exactly. And this is the reason why stopped using the VNAV feature. Especially for Longhaul flights, where stepclimb is obviously used the most, it forces the app to keep running. This drains battery life and also can alter the devices’ overall lifetime. I hope they will bring this feature into the app, so it works together with AP+ 
If I would be in your situation, I would plan my schedule accordingly. Ex the TIME to the next waypoint I should step to climb to x altitude. So if my time to the nest way point is after 45 minutes that means I would need to be available to manually climb up instead of depending on the VNAV.
I usually fly short to medium hall. (1-2 step climbs for the duration of flight)
What i do is i follow how irl flights perform step climbs and find a closest waypoint in relation to approx location and add a FL number that serves a reminder for me. With now in the latest update in Beta where you can add a user waypoint now i can add a certain FL without needing to find a waypoint. 
works for me. So i just imagine it as a TOC reminder.
So yeah, trouble is it wont climb on its own. You’ll have to be flying and remember where those climb spots are 
irl you’ll have to request it with control centers anyway to climb a certain level.
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