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MY FS FLIGHTS
Flight Score
Improve the takeoff
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 · 17 stages, 16 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 63 kt with 2.7° 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 takeoff, point by point
Side view from the start of the roll to 280 ft.
Reached 35 ft with 600 m of runway left; then climbing at 650 fpm on average to 280 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.
Plan view the roll down the 1,234 m runway.
Rolled from 399 m in, never more than 1.3 m off the centreline. Airborne 36 % 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.
Right-hand, 1,000 ft circuit height. The plan shows your circuit over a textbook one for this runway; the profile unrolls the same path from liftoff to the threshold.
Plan landing direction to the left; in pale blue the textbook circuit for your downwind speed, 0.8 nm out at 85 kt
The lap from above, with the landing direction to the left: the opposite of the runway drawings. The wide pale-blue line is a textbook circuit for your downwind speed - the downwind a mile out for every 100 kt, every turn at 30° of bank - and your track is drawn over it, each leg in the colour of its mark. The numbers are the four turns, the same as on the profile and the cards below. The 45° line from the threshold is the usual point to turn onto base.
Around the circuit height and bank; the turns are shaded
The same lap straightened out, so the height and the bank can be read together. Each shaded stretch is a turn, numbered as on the plan. The green box is circuit height, 1,000 ft, on the downwind. The amber line is 30° of bank, and a turn's steepest bank shows red above 32°. "Turn crosswind from" is the lowest height to start the first turn at.
Off heading: 10° from the leg's heading on average.
Each lap slightly wider and higher than the last, because you're unconsciously using the previous lap as your reference instead of the runway and the numbers. Invisible lap to lap, unmistakable across ten. This is the failure that only measurement catches, because your memory of lap three is gone by lap eight.
Read more in Pattern WorkHigh on downwind: 1,195 ft against 1,000 ft, 195 ft above.
Downwind. Parallel to the runway, opposite the landing direction, at pattern altitude and roughly 90 kt. The single most important moment of the entire circuit is the point abeam your intended touchdown point. Power back (around 1,700 RPM in a 172 works as a starting value to calibrate), first stage of flap, pre-landing flow, and re-trim. Everything from abeam to touchdown is one continuous energy problem. Arrive at the abeam point high or fast and you'll pay for it ninety seconds later in the flare, which is why analysing only the touchdown so often misdiagnoses the fault.
Read more in Pattern WorkGood: full marks on the turn and the leg after it.
Good: full marks on the turn.
The final from 4 nm.
Profile height against the 3° glideslope, with its 2° band in green.
Inside the glideslope band from 1.2 nm, where the final began, to the threshold, never more than 100 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.
Plan distance off the extended centreline, your left at the top, with the 1° band. Sideways distances are drawn 5× larger than distances along the final.
Joined 69 m left of the centreline at 1.2 nm, then inside the band from 0.8 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 78 kt fast at the 1,000 ft gate, closing to 48 at 500 ft and 10 at the threshold.
Inside the speed band all the way, between +7 kt and +17 kt on the approach speed of 60 kt.
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
Touchdown
No crosswind: nothing to correct for. Touched down straight, wings level.
Wind 220° at 3 kt · 3 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 60 kt at touchdown to taxi speed (30 kt) in 9 s, an average deceleration of 0.19 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 1,234 m of the approach.
Crossed the threshold at 16 ft, 34 ft below the 50 ft target. Touched down 170 m in, 135 m short of 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 1,234 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 330 fpm at 17 ft to 130 fpm at touchdown. The nose came up 1.1° 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 full 1,234 m runway, to the same scale as the side view.
Touched down 1.7 m left of the centreline, and stayed within 1.9 m of it down 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 170 m touchdown sits inside the full-score zone. The 1.18 G arrival bounced.
The rest of the report
The flight began with a departure roll from runway 22 at KCDW Essex County Airport, where the Cessna C182 aircraft took off with a takeoff distance of 83 meters, which accounted for 7% of the runway. The liftoff speed was 64 knots, and the local weather conditions were characterized by a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius and a wind speed of 3 knots at 220 degrees. The crosswind was 1 knot, and the headwind was 3 knots.
As the aircraft entered the right-hand pattern from runway 22, it covered a distance of less than 1 nautical mile in 27 seconds. The right-hand pattern crosswind leg was completed in 23 seconds, covering a distance of less than 1 nautical mile. The pattern downwind turn was made at an angle of 57.8 degrees to the runway, covering a distance of 1 nautical mile. The downwind leg itself was 2 nautical miles long and took 79 seconds to complete.
The pattern base leg turn was made at an angle of 51.1 degrees to the runway, covering a distance of 2 nautical miles. The base leg was 1 nautical mile long and took 51 seconds to complete. The final turn was made in 23 seconds, covering a distance of less than 1 nautical mile. The final approach to runway 22 was made from the north-east, heading 217.0 degrees at 1 nautical mile and 391 feet above ground level.
The landing on runway 22 was successful, with a touchdown distance of 169 meters, which was good considering the runway length of 1,234 meters. The touchdown speed was 62 knots, which was a little fast, but the touchdown rate was smooth at -128 feet per minute. The runway touchdown alignment was very good, and the local weather conditions remained the same.
The total landing distance was 346 meters, which accounted for 28% of the runway. The runway rollout alignment was perfect, and the aircraft taxied to the parking area from the runway in less than 1 minute, covering a distance of less than 1 nautical mile. The total flight distance was 7 nautical miles, and the flight took 6 minutes to complete, using 2 kilograms of fuel.
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