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MY FS FLIGHTS
Flight Score
Work on the flare
Arrive slow and the sink rate at the threshold is already above schedule, the flare is short because there is no energy to extend it, and the touchdown is hard in a way that feels exactly like a late flare. Diagnosing a slow arrival as a late flare is the catastrophic misread: you respond by flaring earlier, which bleeds more speed, which makes the next one worse. The tiebreaker is threshold speed against VRef, not feel. Never diagnose a flare without it.
Read more in Flare TimingStart to finish · 22 stages, 21 scored
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The threshold, the flare and the hold-off. The approach that led to it is the stabilisation gates below.
One stabilised approach gate: five 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.
The approach, gate by gate
Side view — the last 1,563 m of the approach.
Plan view — the first 1,563 m of the 2,985 m runway, to the same scale as the side view.
The 345 m touchdown sits inside the full-score zone. The 2.67 G arrival is the firm side of smooth.
The rest of the report
The flight began with a departure roll from runway 27 at Gibraltar Airport, where the A400M aircraft took off with a takeoff distance of 1,081 meters, which is 71% of the runway. The liftoff speed was 146 knots. The local weather conditions at the time of departure were characterized by a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius and a wind speed of 7 knots from 219 degrees, resulting in a 5-knot crosswind and a 5-knot headwind.
As the aircraft climbed away from Gibraltar, it began its enroute climb 1 mile west of the airport, rising from an altitude of 1,079 feet above sea level to 31,053 feet above sea level, an increase of 29,974 feet in just 16 minutes, covering a distance of 75 nautical miles. The enroute level cruise then started 2 miles north of Alfarnatejo in Andalusia, Spain, and lasted for 116 minutes, covering a distance of 871 nautical miles.
The enroute descent began overhead Mittelschaeffolsheim in Grand Est, France, where the aircraft descended from 29,509 feet above sea level to 4,092 feet above sea level, a decrease of 25,417 feet in just 14 minutes, covering a distance of 46 nautical miles. The aircraft then leveled off overhead Fischbach in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, for a brief 3-minute cruise, covering a distance of 7 nautical miles.
The final approach to runway 27 at Ramstein Air Base was made from the east, heading 266.0 degrees at 4 nautical miles and 1,251 feet above ground level. However, a go-around was initiated at 348 feet above ground level. The aircraft then landed on runway 27, which has a length of 2,985 meters. The threshold height at 89 feet above ground level was significantly above the target, and the threshold speed was too high at 149 knots.
The touchdown distance was good at 341 meters, but the touchdown speed at 136 knots was a little fast. The touchdown rate was very heavy at -1,359 feet per minute. The runway touchdown position was slightly misaligned by 3.6 meters from the centerline. The local weather conditions at the time of landing were characterized by a temperature of 29 degrees Celsius and a wind speed of 8 knots from 199 degrees, resulting in a 7-knot crosswind and a 3-knot headwind.
The total landing distance was 1,482 meters, which is 50% of the runway. The runway rollout alignment was slightly misaligned by 9.4 meters from the centerline. Taxiing to the parking from the runway took just 1 minute and covered less than 1 nautical mile. The total flight distance was 1,013 nautical miles, taking 159 minutes, and the aircraft used 9,319 kilograms of fuel.
The A400M aircraft successfully landed at ETAR Ramstein Air Base, but the landing was not without its issues. The final approach to runway 27 from the east was initiated at a height of 1,251 feet above ground level (agl) and a distance of 4 nautical miles from the runway. The aircraft was heading 266.0° at the time of the approach.
Upon landing, the aircraft touched down on the runway at a speed of 136 knots, which was slightly faster than the target speed. The touchdown distance of 341 meters was considered good, but the touchdown rate of -1,359 feet per minute (fpm) was very heavy, indicating a hard landing. The runway touchdown position was also slightly misaligned from the centerline by 3.6 meters.
The local weather conditions at the time of the landing were characterized by a temperature of 29°C and a wind speed of 8 knots from 199°. The crosswind component was 7 knots, while the headwind component was 3 knots. The runway length at ETAR Ramstein Air Base is 2,985 meters.
The total landing distance of 1,482 meters was 50% of the runway length, indicating that the aircraft was able to stop within a reasonable distance. However, the runway rollout alignment was also slightly misaligned from the centerline by 9.4 meters. Overall, the landing was considered to be 82.7% successful, with some areas for improvement in terms of speed, touchdown rate, and alignment.
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