Q400 not reaching assigned altitude

Hello all,

I've been flying the Dash for quite a while now, and yesterday it started to act strangely. I input the desired cruise altitude, press ALT SEL, and the aircraft will climb close to it and maintain that altitude, a few hundred feet below the assigned altitude (see picture by clicking on link below). It did it again today. I input FL250, and it levels off at about 24 880 ft. Had to manually set VS 200 ft/min until it reaches assigned altitude, then it maintains it. What am I doing wrong?

Thank you for your insights and suggestions, and congratulations for an amazing product.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1sShzD1Kb9FBXgsUba2RszrZNYvIQcVzFUKDrd0RcCmw/edit?usp=sharing

É.

Comments

  • Hi,

    Which climb mode did you select? Pitch Hold, VS, IAS? Only pressing ALT SEL does nothing but leveling off if you reach the selected altitude.

    Rgds
    Reinhard

  • IAS all the way up to FL240. I've been flying the thing for months (years on and off), it's a new thing for me that it does not reach the selected altitude. On my picture you can see it did not reach the selected altitude. I'll try again today.

  • Tried again, no problem this time... Could it be that I asked for a 210 IAS climb instead of 200 IAS, which I usually do, and it could not keep this speed until FL250 and just stopped climbing a few hundred feet before ALT SEL?

  • Hi,

    One method is for Type I (High Speed Climb) as follows:
    The standard climb profile is IAS 210 to FL150 and 5° PITCH thereafter.

    All the climbs:

    Type I KIAS210 Up To FL150
    KIAS200 At FL170
    KIAS190 At FL190
    KIAS180 AT FL210
    KIAS170 AT FL230
    KIAS160 AT FL250

    Type II KIAS185 Up To FL200
    KIAS180 AT FL210
    KIAS170 AT FL230
    KIAS160 AT FL250

    Type III KIAS 160 Up To FL250

    Regards,

    JP

  • edited February 2021

    Hi,

    The three types of climb are often referenced by the following names:

    • Type I (high speed)
    • Type II (intermediate speed)
    • Type III (low speed)

    Rgds
    Reinhard

  • Everyone’s correct about using IAS and the three types of climbs. How heavy are you? You won’t get 210 all the way to FL250, especially if it’s heavy and hot. Try using pitch hold. At my airline we set the pitch for 5 degrees shortly after take off and it works great. Might have to lower the nose a bit once you get higher up, or you can set IAS once the plane hits 190kts when you’re in pitch hold, which should work good too.
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