Events
Events
Events
Events
MY FS FLIGHTS
Flight Score
Departure
Use smoother, smaller aileron inputs to keep the wings level and hold bank angle near wings-level during the climb.
What happened: During the climb, bank angle rose to 17°, more roll than the climb out called for.
Watch for: Attitude indicator: wings level during the climb
Arrival
Fly a slightly steeper approach path to cross the threshold at 50 ft agl instead of 58 ft agl.
What happened: The aircraft crossed the threshold at 58 ft agl against a 50 ft agl target, above the normal profile. This fault pattern is often followed by a long touchdown beyond the target point, and here the aircraft touched down at 630 m against a 457 m target.
Watch for: Radio altimeter against the 50 ft threshold crossing target on short final.
A typical trainer rotates in the mid-50s of knots - a 172 at around 55 KIAS, climbing out at a Vy in the low 70s, though check your own POH rather than memorising Cessna's numbers - and the transferable rule is that Vr sits just above the stall speed in takeoff configuration. Rotate early because "it felt ready" and the aircraft lifts off inside ground effect, where induced drag is reduced, then climbs out of it into more drag. On a marginal-performance day the result is an aircraft that lifts off and then refuses to climb, sagging back towards the runway.
Read more in Improve Your Take-OffsStart to finish · 10 stages, 9 in the score
Events
Events
Events
Events
Taxi out
The roll
Rotated late
The nose came up at 97 kt, 14 kt after the 83 kt rotate speed.
The pull started after the rotate speed had gone by. Bring the airspeed into the scan as it approaches the rotate speed, so the pull starts on the number rather than when you notice it has passed.
Liftoff and climb
Plan view the roll down the 1,961 m runway.
Rolled from 869 m in, drifted 2.8 m right of the centreline and was back on it to lift off, in 7 kn of crosswind from the left. Airborne 65 % of the way down the runway, before the 75 % line.
The roll from above, with your left at the top. The line is where the wheels went, and "widest" is the furthest you drifted off the centreline. Lifting off before the amber 75 % line gets full marks for the roll length. The arrow beside the runway is the crosswind, pointing the way the air was moving, so it pushed the aircraft that way.
Side view from the start of the roll to 366 ft.
Reached 35 ft with 376 m of runway left; then climbing at 930 fpm on average to 366 ft.
The takeoff from the side: the height above the runway against the distance along it. The numbers along the runway are the speeds reached at each point. Lifting off in the amber last quarter of the runway costs marks for the roll length. The dark stretch of the roll is the run with the nose up and the wheels still on, with its length and time under the runway.
Speed and pitch from brake release to the end of the climb, against time.
Two traces from brake release: the airspeed on top, and below it the pitch, which is how far the nose is above the horizon. The dashed green line is the speed to rotate at for this aircraft at its weight, and the green dot is where the nose started to come up. The grey band is the run between the nose coming up and the wheels leaving the runway. The figure at liftoff is the pitch then. The grey dashed line across the pitch is the attitude held from 35 ft to the end: a nose held steady is a climb speed that holds, and the airspeed trace sits directly above it to compare.
One stabilised approach gate: seven checks where the approach path is 500 ft above the runway. The 1,000 ft gate was not assessed, because the approach did not join final that far out. These checks are the approach's score.
At the 500 ft gate: speed more than 25 kt above the approach speed of 82 kt.
When the approach was stable
Every check met from 1.5 nm, about 510 ft above the runway, to the threshold, after the 500 ft gate. The last to settle was the speed.
Each line is one of the gate checks, run along the whole final rather than only at the gates: green where it would have passed, amber where it would not. The glideslope, centreline and speed lines use the bands in the charts beside this card. The sink rate is allowed what the glideslope needs at your ground speed plus 600 fpm, the wings 10° of bank, and the gear and flap are read from when you moved the levers. The bottom line is green where every check held at once, ignoring blips shorter than 0.2 nm, and the sentence above it says from where it held to the threshold. A ring is a stabilisation gate, where the checks in the table were taken.
The final from 4 nm, with the stabilisation gates on it.
Profile height against the 3° glideslope, with its 2° band in green.
Inside the glideslope band from 2.9 nm, where the final began, to the threshold, never more than 130 ft above the slope.
Your height above the runway against the distance still to go. The glideslope is the steady descent path to the aiming point, 305 m past the threshold: 3° here, which is about 320 ft for every nautical mile out, crossing the threshold at about 50 ft. The row under the distances is the height it puts you at. Inside the green band your path is drawn green; outside it, amber. A ring is a stabilisation gate: green when every check there passed, amber with the failed checks named beside it.
Plan distance off the extended centreline, your left at the top, with the 1° band. Sideways distances are drawn 3× larger than distances along the final.
Joined 418 m right of the centreline at 2.9 nm, then inside the band from 2.6 nm to the threshold.
Looking down from above, flying left to right towards the runway: up the page is left of the centreline, down is right. Sideways distances are stretched so that small drifts show, so a line that looks wild here may be only a few tens of feet. The labels are how far off you were at each distance, amber when outside the band.
Speed against the approach speed. The green band runs from 5 kt slow to 41 kt fast at the 1,000 ft gate, closing to 25 at 500 ft and 10 at the threshold.
Fast from 2.9 nm, where the final began, to 1.5 nm (up to +51 kt), then inside the band to the threshold.
Your indicated airspeed down the final, against the approach speed for this aircraft at its landing weight. The band allows 5 kt slow and more on the fast side further out, closing as you get lower, because the speed is expected to come off on the way down. The figures are knots above (+) or below (−) the approach speed.
Over the threshold
The flare mostly held the target profile
Pitch was -1.7° at touchdown, at or below this aircraft's ground attitude, so the nosewheel met the runway with the main wheels or before them. Touchdown was 630 m past the threshold. Keep raising the nose through the flare so the main wheels touch first.
Touchdown
Rollout
Side view — the last 1,524 m of the approach.
Crossed the threshold at 57 ft, close to the 50 ft target; began the flare at 25 ft. Touched down 630 m in, 326 m past the ideal 305 m.
The last stretch of the approach and the touchdown, from the side. The height is stretched so that the last few feet show: 80 ft top to bottom, against 1,524 m across. The dashed line is the ideal, 50 ft over the threshold and down 305 m in. The flare ring is where you began raising the nose, and "descent slowed" is where the sink came off; the figures beside them are the sink rate, pitch and speed at that point.
Sink and pitch — through the flare, lined up with the side view.
The sink went from 340 fpm at the flare to 80 fpm at touchdown. The nose went down 1.0° on the way down. Into the flare at 83 kt, on the 82 kt approach speed, and 79 kt at touchdown.
Lined up with the side view above, so a point on one sits under the same point of the other. On top, how fast you were coming down: 0 is level, and −600 is 600 ft a minute down. Below, the pitch. In a flare the nose comes up and the descent slows towards 0. The figure at the touchdown line is your touchdown rate.
Plan view — the first 1,524 m of the 2,360 m runway, to the same scale as the side view.
Touched down 3.1 m left of the centreline, and stayed about there down the rollout, 4.7 m left at the widest. 5 kt across from the left, which takes about 4° of crab to hold the centreline at 79 kt. Touched down straight - the crab taken out before the wheels touched, wings level.
Wind 270° at 8 kt · 5 kt head · 5 kt across
The runway from above, with your left at the top. Touching down inside the green bracket scores full marks for the distance. The shaded part is the rollout, up to where it ended. The arrow beside the runway is the crosswind, pointing the way the air was moving, so it pushed the aircraft that way. The wind is the one recorded at the landing, split along the runway (headwind or tailwind) and across it. To hold the centreline in a crosswind the nose points a little into wind - the crab - and is straightened with rudder just before the wheels touch, often with the into-wind wing lowered to stop the drift. The sentence gives the nose against the direction you were actually moving as the wheels touched, and the steepest bank as they touched, the figure the touchdown's Bank tile marks. The rest of it is shown for reading, not marked.
Touched down 630 m past the threshold — beyond the full-score zone. The arrival was smooth.
The stop — touchdown to taxi speed.
From 78 kt at touchdown to taxi speed (30 kt) in 13 s, an average deceleration of 0.21 g.
Your ground speed from the moment the wheels touched until you were down to taxi speed, against the distance rolled. A steep line is hard braking, a shallow one a long, gentle roll. For scale, an airliner's lowest autobrake setting decelerates at about 0.15 g, a medium one about 0.3 g. Shown for reading; not marked.
The rest of the report
The Diamond DA42 Twin Star taxied to runway 34 at KADS Addison Airport and commenced the take-off run, covering 1,309 m which represented 67 % of the available runway. Liftoff was achieved at 99 kt. Ambient conditions were 16 °C with a wind from 270° at 8 kt; the cross-component was 7 kt and the head-wind component 3 kt.
During the en-route climb the aircraft departed the vicinity of KADS, ascending from 1,030 ft asl to 1,747 ft asl - a gain of 716 ft - in 1 minute while traversing 2 nm.
Level cruise was established overhead Addison, persisting for 7 minutes and encompassing a distance of 20 nm.
The descent for the final approach to runway 31R at KDAL Dallas Love Field reduced altitude from 1,052 ft agl to 68 ft agl in 105 seconds, and the aircraft scored on the stabilisation gates.
On final approach the aircraft encountered a temperature of 15 °C and a wind from 270° at 8 kt, providing a cross-wind of 5 kt and a head-wind of 5 kt. The threshold height of 57 ft agl was slightly above target, while the threshold speed of 83 kt was within expectations.
Touchdown occurred 191 m beyond the designated touchdown zone on runway 31R, with a speed of 79 kt and a vertical speed of minus 86 fpm. Runway touchdown alignment was very good; the total landing distance measured 932 m, representing 39 % of the 2,360 m runway.
Runway rollout alignment remained very good, confirming the aircraft stayed on the centreline throughout the deceleration phase.
In total the flight covered 26 nm, required 10 minutes of elapsed time, and consumed 7 kg of fuel.
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