Auto Step Climb Logic & Issues

[Vysous]

Dear all,

I have an issue with the auto step climb feature. I programmed the step climbs in the FMC - I could see estimated times and altitudes, as well as S/C in the flight plan. 

Question - what is the altitude I set on the MCP? I assumed that I always set the current cruise altitude, and when step climb waypoint is reached, the plane will automatically change it to the new cruise level. Is that correct? Or do I have to enter the altitude "after" step climb? 

The reason I ask: When the plane was supposed to step climb, it simply told me "STEP DELETED" and did not do so. I ran out of fuel during my overnight longhaul and crashed. 

 

 

[Stormfish]

Have you turn on auto step climb in OIS menu (don’t know exactly maybe simulation submenu)?

[Vysous]

2 hours ago, Stormfish said:

Have you turn on auto step climb in OIS menu (don’t know exactly maybe simulation submenu)?

Yes sir. Another important thins is that I have not imported the step climbs from SimBrief, but entered them manually. I found on the forum that using simbrief import could help. I will test it.

However, I am still curious about which altitude I should keep dialed in - the current cruise altitude, or the next one. 

[RogerWilco]

1.1.9 Auto Step Climbs doesn´t work at all.

[Vysous]

This is not true. I did a full flight with auto step climbs in 1.1.9. without any problems.

I import step climbs from Simbrief and do not touch them. It seems to be working well this way. In fact I had zero issues with the plane since my first question here at the forums.

[Remy Mermelstein]

@Vysous @Eddie I have had mixed luck as well. A couple of flights where the Auto Step Climb worked perfectly with the imported Simbrief Step Points; however some other flights where the plane also just decides to not step when it gets to the point and deletes it. 

For eg, right now I am flying NZAA-KJFK. My simbrief FP had an initial CRZ of FL350, but I decided to start at FL330 given performance. So, the steps:

CLB to CRZ FL330

[My own added OPT Step to FL350] FMS decided in 300nm from CRZ.

Then continued with the planned Simbrief Steps:

1. STEP @ 36S152W FL370
2. STEP DOWN @ 27S146W TO FL360
3. STEP @20S144W FL370
4. STEP @07W40 TO FL380
5. STEP @01S139W FL390
6. STEP @BIGBY FL410

The plane correctly climbed to FL350 in 300nm from CRZ.

The plane then did NOT descend to FL360, it deleted this step

The plane stayed in FL350 past the planned steps to FL370 and FL380 and FL390, the FMS deleted these steps from the STEP ALTS page.

The FMS deleted my BIGBY FL410 Step and instead had "OPT 390" in place, with the OPT CRZ showing FL395, the OPT point for CLB to 390 kept going 2nm, 1nm, 0nm, and AUTO STEP would appear as a msg, but the plane will not climb unless I manually tell it to climb.

I tried adding new step points to FL390, FL410, and INSERTED them into the active FP, but the FMS kept then deleting or changing them to OPT and not climbing.

So mixed bag here, and I would love some answers. I have AUTO STEP climb and Import from Simbrief turned on in the OIS. 

Question - can the plane handle descent steps and then climbing back up? Is there a way to tell Simbrief not to do descent steps?

Should the Cruise alt i put in the MCP be the initial, or the final? I assume initial.

Running MSFS2020, just bought the A350 last week, running latest version. 

Edited December 30, 2025 by Remy Mermelstein