Ability to disregard specific step climbs in OFP

SimBrief Dispatch
1

Hi,

maybe it is just my impression, but I am seeing some degradation of the route quality from the time the Real World Routes were implemented a while ago. Now, in order for it to remain valid, Simbrief often has to plan several nonsense step climbs, for example from FL360 to FL290, etc…

And the only option we have, are to either:

Disable the step climbs completely, but since Europe follows a divided semi-circular rules, and you have to make a step climb from odd cruise level to even, and vice versa, it is not exactly preferred

Or just flat out ignore such step climb, but that means we have to manually remove the step climb from the ATC FPL, if we are flying online, and it could also lead to issues with fuel planning, as Simbrief is expecting a different fuel consumption.

Therefore I would like to ask, if there is any chance you could give an option to disable only some of the planned step climbs. Either by just making a list of the planned step climbs in the GUI and we could have a checkbox where we could selectively disable them. Or just add additional option for the dispatch, to enable only step climbs on the FIR boundaries with different semi-circular rules.

Thank you so much for consideration, I really love what you are doing, guys :slight_smile:

2

Hi, it is not uncommon (nor unrealistic) to have many steps in Europe. Though I agree SimBrief doesn’t always choose the optimal profile, there is room for improvement here for sure.

A GUI tool to customize the step climbs is planned for some day down the road. But for now, you can still customize your steps using the following procedure:

  1. After you set your options, right before you generate the flight, click the “Calculate & Compare” button.
  2. Note the step climbs it has planned. If there are any you would like to modify, click the “Copy” button next to the calculated route.
  3. Paste the copied route string (which includes the calculated step climbs) into the “Route” option.
  4. Edit or remove any step climbs as you’d like.
  5. Optionally, click “Calculate & Compare” again to make sure the new step climbs are followed.
  6. Generate your OFP once you are ready.

custom-steps-1
custom-steps-11733×870 243 KB

custom-steps-2
custom-steps-21732×870 183 KB

custom-steps-3
custom-steps-31736×872 282 KB

custom-steps-4
custom-steps-41735×871 189 KB

Best regards,

3

Oh, I was not aware that Simbrief is working with the step climbs in the route string. Great! Thank you!

4

Just a final note while I think of it: The speed portion of the step climbs in the “Route” option is ignored, SimBrief only looks at the altitude.

Likewise, when entering custom step climbs in SimBrief, you can omit the speed portion. So manually entering BODEQ/N0445F300 will work the same as BODEQ/F300.

But if you’ve copied a route that already includes the speeds, you can also leave them there and SimBrief will simply ignore them (instead cruising at whatever cruise speed or cost index you’ve selected).

Best regards,