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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 · 15 stages, 13 in the score
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From brake release to the end of the climb, against time, then the takeoff point by point.
Lifted off at 54 kt with 9.7° 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 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 974 ft.
Reached 35 ft with 1,843 m of runway left; then climbing at 1,620 fpm on average to 974 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 2,398 m runway.
Rolled from 308 m in, drifted 6.8 m left of the centreline and was back on it to lift off, in 7 kn of crosswind from the left. Airborne 15 % 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.
The final from 4 nm.
Profile height against the 3° glideslope, with its 2° band in green.
Inside the glideslope band from 0.5 nm, where the final began, to the threshold, never more than 50 ft below 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 35 m left of the centreline at 0.5 nm.
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 −10 kt and −0 kt on the approach speed of 70 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
Little crosswind (1 kt): nothing to correct for. Touched down straight, wings level.
Wind 198° at 8 kt · 8 kt head · 1 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 57 kt at touchdown to taxi speed (30 kt) in 21 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 948 m of the approach.
Crossed the threshold at 7 ft, 43 ft below the 50 ft target. Touched down 88 m in, 217 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 948 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 120 fpm at 8 ft to 20 fpm at 0 ft, then back up to 120 fpm at touchdown. The nose came up 4.3° 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 full 948 m runway, to the same scale as the side view.
Touched down 10 m left of the centreline, and stayed about there down the rollout, 11 m left at the widest.
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 88 m touchdown sits inside the full-score zone. The 1.04 G arrival bounced 2 times.
The rest of the report
The flight began with a taxiing period from the parking area to the runway, which took 6 minutes and covered a distance of 1 nautical mile. The aircraft, a DHC-2 Beaver, then departed from runway 30 at LFYK Marville Montmédy Airfield, a small airfield located in Grand Est, France. The takeoff distance was 85 meters, which accounted for 4% of the runway length. The liftoff speed was 54 knots, and the local weather conditions at the time of departure were characterized by a temperature of 26 degrees Celsius and a wind speed of 8 knots from a direction of 197 degrees.
As the aircraft climbed away from the airfield, it began its enroute climb, which started overhead the airfield itself. The climb took the aircraft from an altitude of 1,904 feet above sea level to 3,968 feet above sea level, an increase of 2,064 feet, in just 4 minutes and covering a distance of 23 nautical miles. The climb was followed by a level cruise, which began overhead Huncherange, a town located in the Canton d'Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg. This cruise phase lasted for 13 minutes and covered a distance of 148 nautical miles.
The enroute descent phase started 2 miles west of Niederstetten, a town located in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. The descent took the aircraft from an altitude of 3,703 feet above sea level to 2,205 feet above sea level, a decrease of 1,498 feet, in just 2 minutes and covering a distance of 3 nautical miles. Following the descent, the aircraft entered another level cruise phase, which started overhead Niederstetten and lasted for 7 minutes, covering a distance of 11 nautical miles.
The final approach to runway 21 at EDFR Rothenburg ob der Tauber Airfield was made from the north-east, with the aircraft heading 208 degrees at an altitude of 157 feet above ground level. The landing was made on the runway, which had a length of 948 meters. The threshold height was good, and the threshold speed was also satisfactory at 67 knots. The touchdown distance was good at 86 meters, and the touchdown speed was 60 knots, which was also satisfactory. The touchdown rate was smooth at -118 feet per minute.
The runway touchdown position was slightly misaligned from the centreline by 10.2 meters. The local weather conditions at the time of landing were characterized by a temperature of 26 degrees Celsius and a wind speed of 8 knots from a direction of 197 degrees. The crosswind component was 1 knot, and the headwind component was 8 knots. The total landing distance was 327 meters, which accounted for 34% of the runway length. The runway rollout alignment was also slightly misaligned from the centreline by 12.9 meters.
In total, the flight covered a distance of 188 nautical miles and took 36 minutes to complete. The aircraft used 120 kilograms of fuel during the flight.
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