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MY FS FLIGHTS
Flight Score
Know your rotation speed
See Departure Roll
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 · 21 stages, 19 in the score
Events
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From brake release to the end of the climb, against time, then the takeoff point by point.
Lifted off at 74 kt with 4.0° of pitch.
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 figure at liftoff is the pitch then. The shaded stretch is Climb 3, the part of the climb scored on holding the climb speed.
The takeoff, point by point
Side view from the start of the roll to the end of Climb 3 at 883 ft. The distance scale changes past the runway end.
Reached 35 ft 34 m past the runway end; then climbing at 730 fpm on average to 883 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 shaded stretch is Climb 3, scored on its average speed against the target.
Plan view the roll down the 700 m runway.
Rolled from 55 m in, drifted 3.5 m right of the centreline and was back on it to lift off. Airborne 81 % of the way down the runway, past 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.
The final from 4 nm.
Profile height against the 3.2° glideslope, with its 2° band in green.
High from 4 nm to 3.5 nm (up to 890 ft over), then back on it to the threshold.
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: 3.2° here, which is about 340 ft for every nautical mile out, crossing the threshold at about 60 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.
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.
Inside the 1° band from 4 nm to 0.3 nm, then 12 m right of it from 0.3 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.
Over the threshold
Touchdown
No crosswind: nothing to correct for. Touched down straight, wings level.
Wind 270° at 2 kt · 2 kt head · 0 kt across
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. These are the nose against the direction you were actually moving, and the wings, at the moment of touchdown. Shown for reading; not marked.
From 63 kt at touchdown to taxi speed (30 kt) in 24 s, an average deceleration of 0.08 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.
Side view — the last 1,524 m of the approach.
Crossed the threshold at 33 ft, 17 ft below the 50 ft target. Touched down 413 m in, 108 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 160 fpm at 33 ft to 30 fpm at 9 ft, then back up to 270 fpm at touchdown. The nose went down 2.3° on the way down.
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 2,936 m runway, to the same scale as the side view.
Touched down 5 m right of the centreline, and steered back to 0.1 m right by the end of the rollout.
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 413 m touchdown sits inside the full-score zone. The 1.27 G arrival bounced.
The rest of the report
The flight began with the Pilatus PC-6 taxiing from the parking area to the runway at LDPV Vrsar Crljenka Airfield, taking approximately 3 minutes and covering less than 1 nautical mile. The departure roll took place on runway 18, with a takeoff distance of 512 meters, which accounted for 73% of the runway. The liftoff speed was 74 knots.
As the aircraft took to the skies, it encountered local weather conditions of 16°C temperature and a 2-knot wind at 270°. The crosswind was 2 knots, while the headwind was 0 knots. The enroute climb started 1 mile north of Rovinj, Istria, Croatia, where the aircraft climbed from 1,007 feet above sea level to 2,550 feet, an increase of 1,543 feet in 3 minutes and covering 4 nautical miles.
Following the initial climb, the aircraft entered a level cruise 2 miles southeast of Rovinj, lasting 2 minutes and covering 4 nautical miles. The enroute descent began 4 miles southwest of Bale, Istria, Croatia, where the aircraft descended from 2,853 feet to 2,157 feet, a decrease of 696 feet in 2 minutes and covering 4 nautical miles. The aircraft then entered another level cruise 1 mile west of Fazana, Istria, Croatia, lasting 4 minutes and covering 5 nautical miles.
The enroute climb resumed overhead Pula, Istria, Croatia, where the aircraft climbed from 1,303 feet to 2,579 feet, an increase of 1,276 feet in 4 minutes and covering 6 nautical miles. The aircraft then entered a level cruise 1 mile northeast of Liznjan, Istria, Croatia, lasting 3 minutes and covering 3 nautical miles.
The final approach to runway 27 at LDPL Pula Airport was made from the east, heading 270.0° at 3 nautical miles and 1,566 feet above ground level. The landing took place on a runway length of 2,936 meters, with a good threshold height. The threshold speed was good at 59 knots, while the touchdown distance was good at 411 meters. However, the touchdown speed of 54 knots was a little fast, and the touchdown rate was fair at -274 feet per minute.
The runway touchdown position was slightly misaligned by 5.6 meters from the centerline. The local weather conditions at the time of landing were 15°C temperature and a 2-knot wind at 270°, with a crosswind of 0 knots and a headwind of 2 knots. The total landing distance was 820 meters, accounting for 28% of the runway. The runway rollout alignment was very good.
The flight concluded with the aircraft taxiing to the parking area from the runway, taking approximately 1 minute and covering less than 1 nautical mile. The total flight distance was 31 nautical miles, taking 20 minutes, and the aircraft used 72 kilograms of fuel.
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