Tropopause altitude cannot be entered on INIT A

[MrHalfknight]

See title. 

[Crabby]

I don't think the Tropopause is entered. Those fields are populated for me when I initialize the flight from the ACARS menu linked to Simbrief.   

Edited January 9 by Crabby

[MrHalfknight]

Tropopause altitude in the standard atmosphere is 36000 ft, which is the default value in the mcdu, however, in real life it usually isn’t 36000 ft. So for better predictions by the FMS, the actual tropopause altitude shall be entered. 

[Crabby]

1 hour ago, MrHalfknight said:

Tropopause altitude in the standard atmosphere is 36000 ft, which is the default value in the mcdu, however, in real life it usually isn’t 36000 ft. So for better predictions by the FMS, the actual tropopause altitude shall be entered. 

Except, if you read the FCOM, Tropopause is NOT an value that can be entered.  You can enter the temperature.  The tropopause display is not dashed or boxed.  When you enter the cruise alt, the standard temp at that level is entered.  If there is a variation, you can enter the actual cruise temp and without looking, I would be the tropo number would change.  Either way, according the to actual FCOM pilots do not enter that number.

 

[MrHalfknight]

Weird, as it is entered in every other airbus (even though it’s not boxed)

[MrHalfknight]

Here is the proof: it SHOULD be editable. 

[Crabby]

I did a google search "enter tropopause on fmc".  The results were overwhelming.  Leave it alone.  Some SOPs (from A320s) even had the company prohibit playing with that number.  To further cure my newfound curiosity, I googled "How to calculate the tropopause".  What a rabbit hole and actually shows why SOPs recommend, leave it alone.  Apparently, that value, even if accurate, has such a negligible effect on anything it is not worth the considerable brain power to deal with it.  I have no immersion (feelings) to break, however, this should not be an immersion breaker for anyone.   Apparently, even the different company FCOM's treat it differently.  

[MrHalfknight]

1. Tropopause is written on the OFP for every single waypoint.

2. It´s not about what airline has which SOP. It´s not about immersion. Nobody cares. However, it is a functionality of the MCDU, thus i reported it as a bug. 

Recommend closing the threat after one of the devs acknoledged looking into it. No further comment needed. 

Edited January 10 by MrHalfknight

[Crabby]

27 minutes ago, MrHalfknight said:

1. Tropopause is written on the OFP for every single waypoint.

2. It´s not about what airline has which SOP. It´s not about immersion. Nobody cares. However, it is a functionality of the MCDU, thus i reported it as a bug. 

Recommend closing the threat after one of the devs acknoledged looking into it. No further comment needed. 

Yep, now my curiosity is even deeper.  What number would you enter?  I cannot seem to find an average TRP for the route.  Would you enter it at every waypoint?  I get why you reported it as a bug.  However, my curiosity is peaked because it seems that I may learn something.  Why you would want to close the door (thread) on that could be another discussion.  They must put the TRP on the waypoints for a reason, now I would like to know that reason and why it does not seem to be information that is used.  Off to Google.

[MrHalfknight]

12 minutes ago, Crabby said:

Yep, now my curiosity is even deeper.  What number would you enter?  I cannot seem to find an average TRP for the route.  Would you enter it at every waypoint?  I get why you reported it as a bug.  However, my curiosity is peaked because it seems that I may learn something.  Why you would want to close the door (thread) on that could be another discussion.  They must put the TRP on the waypoints for a reason, now I would like to know that reason and why it does not seem to be information that is used.  Off to Google.

my understanding is that the temperature and tropopause at the TOC is inserted on the INIT A, the rest of the TP values are not entered anywhere, however they give a good indication of the atmospheric conditions (e.g. clouds tops typically are at the TP height)

[Deleted Account]

Thanks, will take a look 🙂

[Crabby]

11 hours ago, MrHalfknight said:

my understanding is that the temperature and tropopause at the TOC is inserted on the INIT A, the rest of the TP values are not entered anywhere, however they give a good indication of the atmospheric conditions (e.g. clouds tops typically are at the TP height)

Ok, that makes sense and what I was leaning towards as the procedure.  

[Rene Feijen]

If tropopause altitude varies and temperature at that altitude also, it would at least be relevant for the engine settings: temp above the tropopause stays the same for all relevant flying altitudes above the tropopause. Whether it is correctly modeled in the sim/A300 I dont know. It would make no sense if it can be entered in the FMS but not be part of MSFS2020 weather model.

Edited January 11 by Rene Feijen