diff --git a/src/blackcore/airspacemonitor.cpp b/src/blackcore/airspacemonitor.cpp
index 8ca9f2507..22f605112 100644
--- a/src/blackcore/airspacemonitor.cpp
+++ b/src/blackcore/airspacemonitor.cpp
@@ -922,7 +922,7 @@ namespace BlackCore
         CAircraftSituation correctedSituation(situation);
         if (!correctedSituation.hasGroundElevation() && !correctedSituation.canLikelySkipNearGroundInterpolation())
         {
-            const CElevationPlane ep = this->findClosestElevationWithinRange(correctedSituation, correctedSituation.getDistancePerTime(1000));
+            const CElevationPlane ep = this->findClosestElevationWithinRange(correctedSituation, correctedSituation.getDistancePerTime(1000), true);
             correctedSituation.setGroundElevation(ep);
         }
 
diff --git a/src/blackcore/simulator.cpp b/src/blackcore/simulator.cpp
index 273279a44..c97bfbda7 100644
--- a/src/blackcore/simulator.cpp
+++ b/src/blackcore/simulator.cpp
@@ -42,6 +42,14 @@ namespace BlackCore
         return setup;
     }
 
+    bool ISimulator::requestElevation(const Geo::ICoordinateGeodetic &reference) const
+    {
+        if (this->isShuttingDown()) { return false; }
+        if (reference.isNull()) { return false; }
+        Q_UNUSED(reference);
+        return false;
+    }
+
     void ISimulator::registerHelp()
     {
         if (CSimpleCommandParser::registered("BlackCore::ISimulator")) { return; }
@@ -56,11 +64,11 @@ namespace BlackCore
     QString ISimulator::statusToString(SimulatorStatus status)
     {
         QStringList s;
-        if (status.testFlag(Unspecified)) s << "Unspecified";
-        if (status.testFlag(Disconnected)) s << "Disconnected";
-        if (status.testFlag(Connected)) s << "Connected";
-        if (status.testFlag(Simulating)) s << "Simulating";
-        if (status.testFlag(Paused)) s << "Paused";
+        if (status.testFlag(Unspecified))  { s << QStringLiteral("Unspecified"); }
+        if (status.testFlag(Disconnected)) { s << QStringLiteral("Disconnected"); }
+        if (status.testFlag(Connected))    { s << QStringLiteral("Connected"); }
+        if (status.testFlag(Simulating))   { s << QStringLiteral("Simulating"); }
+        if (status.testFlag(Paused))       { s << QStringLiteral("Paused"); }
         return s.join(", ");
     }
 
diff --git a/src/blackcore/simulator.h b/src/blackcore/simulator.h
index 8b8cefd1a..7d7fbaab7 100644
--- a/src/blackcore/simulator.h
+++ b/src/blackcore/simulator.h
@@ -180,6 +180,10 @@ namespace BlackCore
         //! Is overall (swift) application shutting down
         virtual bool isShuttingDown() const = 0;
 
+        //! \copydoc BlackMisc::Simulation::ISimulationEnvironmentProvider::requestElevation
+        //! \remark needs to be overridden if the concrete driver supports such an option
+        virtual bool requestElevation(const BlackMisc::Geo::ICoordinateGeodetic &reference) const override;
+
         //! \copydoc BlackMisc::IProvider::asQObject
         virtual QObject *asQObject() override { return this; }
 
diff --git a/src/blackmisc/simulation/simulationenvironmentprovider.cpp b/src/blackmisc/simulation/simulationenvironmentprovider.cpp
index 8122988cc..093918de8 100644
--- a/src/blackmisc/simulation/simulationenvironmentprovider.cpp
+++ b/src/blackmisc/simulation/simulationenvironmentprovider.cpp
@@ -91,14 +91,21 @@ namespace BlackMisc
             return delta;
         }
 
-        CElevationPlane ISimulationEnvironmentProvider::findClosestElevationWithinRange(const ICoordinateGeodetic &reference, const PhysicalQuantities::CLength &range) const
+        CElevationPlane ISimulationEnvironmentProvider::findClosestElevationWithinRange(const ICoordinateGeodetic &reference, const PhysicalQuantities::CLength &range, bool autoRequest) const
         {
             const CCoordinateGeodetic coordinate = this->getElevationCoordinates().findClosestWithinRange(reference, minRange(range));
             const bool found = !coordinate.isNull();
             {
                 QWriteLocker l{&m_lockElvCoordinates };
-                if (found) { m_elvFound++; }
-                else { m_elvMissed++; }
+                if (found)
+                {
+                    m_elvFound++;
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    m_elvMissed++;
+                    if (autoRequest) { this->requestElevation(reference); }
+                }
             }
             return CElevationPlane(coordinate, reference); // plane with radis = distance to reference
         }
@@ -189,10 +196,16 @@ namespace BlackMisc
             this->clearCGs();
         }
 
-        CElevationPlane CSimulationEnvironmentAware::findClosestElevationWithinRange(const ICoordinateGeodetic &reference, const PhysicalQuantities::CLength &range) const
+        CElevationPlane CSimulationEnvironmentAware::findClosestElevationWithinRange(const ICoordinateGeodetic &reference, const PhysicalQuantities::CLength &range, bool autoRequest) const
         {
             if (!this->hasProvider()) { return CElevationPlane::null(); }
-            return this->provider()->findClosestElevationWithinRange(reference, range);
+            return this->provider()->findClosestElevationWithinRange(reference, range, autoRequest);
+        }
+
+        bool CSimulationEnvironmentAware::requestElevation(const ICoordinateGeodetic &reference) const
+        {
+            if (!this->hasProvider()) { return false; }
+            return this->provider()->requestElevation(reference);
         }
 
         QPair<int, int> CSimulationEnvironmentAware::getElevationsFoundMissed() const
diff --git a/src/blackmisc/simulation/simulationenvironmentprovider.h b/src/blackmisc/simulation/simulationenvironmentprovider.h
index 42ff76328..b9c1b2164 100644
--- a/src/blackmisc/simulation/simulationenvironmentprovider.h
+++ b/src/blackmisc/simulation/simulationenvironmentprovider.h
@@ -38,7 +38,11 @@ namespace BlackMisc
 
             //! Find closest elevation
             //! \threadsafe
-            Geo::CElevationPlane findClosestElevationWithinRange(const Geo::ICoordinateGeodetic &reference, const PhysicalQuantities::CLength &range) const;
+            Geo::CElevationPlane findClosestElevationWithinRange(const Geo::ICoordinateGeodetic &reference, const PhysicalQuantities::CLength &range, bool autoRequest = false) const;
+
+            //! Request elevation, there is no guaranteed the requested elevation will be available in the provider
+            //! \threadsafe
+            virtual bool requestElevation(const Geo::ICoordinateGeodetic &reference) const = 0;
 
             //! Elevations found/missed statistics
             //! \threadsafe
@@ -142,7 +146,10 @@ namespace BlackMisc
             void setSimulationEnvironmentProvider(ISimulationEnvironmentProvider *provider) { this->setProvider(provider); }
 
             //! \copydoc ISimulationEnvironmentProvider::findClosestElevationWithinRange
-            Geo::CElevationPlane findClosestElevationWithinRange(const Geo::ICoordinateGeodetic &reference, const PhysicalQuantities::CLength &range) const;
+            Geo::CElevationPlane findClosestElevationWithinRange(const Geo::ICoordinateGeodetic &reference, const PhysicalQuantities::CLength &range, bool autoRequest = false) const;
+
+            //! \copydoc ISimulationEnvironmentProvider::findClosestElevationWithinRange
+            bool requestElevation(const Geo::ICoordinateGeodetic &reference) const;
 
             //! \copydoc ISimulationEnvironmentProvider::getElevationsFoundMissed
             QPair<int, int> getElevationsFoundMissed() const;
diff --git a/src/plugins/simulator/xplane/simulatorxplane.cpp b/src/plugins/simulator/xplane/simulatorxplane.cpp
index 654db4cfe..cd459671f 100644
--- a/src/plugins/simulator/xplane/simulatorxplane.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/simulator/xplane/simulatorxplane.cpp
@@ -112,6 +112,12 @@ namespace BlackSimPlugin
             m_watcher = nullptr;
         }
 
+        bool CSimulatorXPlane::requestElevation(const Geo::ICoordinateGeodetic &reference) const
+        {
+            //! \todo KB 2018-04 implement a function fetching the probe value (async) and write it back to provider
+            return ISimulator::requestElevation(reference);
+        }
+
         // convert xplane squawk mode to swift squawk mode
         CTransponder::TransponderMode xpdrMode(int xplaneMode, bool ident)
         {
diff --git a/src/plugins/simulator/xplane/simulatorxplane.h b/src/plugins/simulator/xplane/simulatorxplane.h
index f42e80e50..9c372b71f 100644
--- a/src/plugins/simulator/xplane/simulatorxplane.h
+++ b/src/plugins/simulator/xplane/simulatorxplane.h
@@ -104,6 +104,9 @@ namespace BlackSimPlugin
             virtual void unload() override;
             //! @}
 
+            //! \copydoc BlackMisc::Simulation::ISimulationEnvironmentProvider::requestElevation
+            virtual bool requestElevation(const BlackMisc::Geo::ICoordinateGeodetic &reference) const override;
+
             //! Creates an appropriate dbus connection from the string describing it
             static QDBusConnection connectionFromString(const QString &str);