Events
Events
Events
Events
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 · 13 stages, 12 in the score
Events
Events
Events
Events
From brake release to the end of the climb, against time, then the takeoff point by point.
Lifted off at 145 kt with 2.5° 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 1,030 ft. The distance scale changes past the runway end.
Reached 35 ft 1,442 ft past the runway end; then climbing at 1,590 fpm on average to 1,030 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 5,519 ft runway.
Rolled from 367 ft in, drifted left of the centreline, 20 ft at the widest, and lifted off 20 ft left. Airborne 107 % 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° glideslope, with its 1° band in green.
On the glideslope from 3.3 nm, where the final began, to 2.0 nm, then low to the threshold (up to 260 ft under).
Your height above the runway against the distance still to go. The glideslope is the steady descent path to the aiming point, 1,000 ft 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 3× larger than distances along the final.
Joined 2,760 ft left of the centreline at 3.3 nm, then inside the band from 1.9 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
4 kt across from the left, which takes about 2° of crab to hold the centreline at 141 kt. Touched down straight - the crab taken out before the wheels touched, wings level.
Wind 280° at 6 kt · 4 kt head · 4 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 139 kt at touchdown to taxi speed (30 kt) in 29 s, an average deceleration of 0.20 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 5,226 ft of the approach.
Crossed the threshold at 16 ft, 34 ft below the 50 ft target. Touched down 1,111 ft in, close to the ideal 1,000 ft.
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 5,226 ft across. The dashed line is the ideal, 50 ft over the threshold and down 1,000 ft 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 230 fpm at 16 ft to 140 fpm at touchdown. The nose came up 0.5° 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 5,226 ft of the 5,519 ft runway, to the same scale as the side view.
Touched down 7 ft left of the centreline and drifted to 19 ft left on the rollout, back to 7 ft right by the end.
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 1,111 ft touchdown sits inside the full-score zone. The arrival was smooth.
The rest of the report
The Antonov Airlines flight departed from runway 31L at KPSP Palm Springs International Airport with a takeoff distance of 5,539 ft, using 100% of the runway. The liftoff speed was 146 kn. The local weather at the time of departure was 80°F with a wind of 9 kn at 279°, resulting in a crosswind of 6 kn and a headwind of 7 kn.
During the enroute climb, the aircraft started climbing 1 mile north of Palm Springs, ascending from 1,542 ft asl to 2,938 ft asl, an increase of 1,396 ft in 1 minute and covering 3 nm. The enroute descent began 2 miles south of Palm Springs, descending from 3,075 ft asl to 934 ft asl, a decrease of 2,141 ft in 2 minutes and covering 3 nm.
The flight landed on runway 31L at KPSP Palm Springs International Airport, with a runway length of 5,519 ft. The height at the threshold was 17 ft agl and the speed at the threshold was 146 kn. The touchdown occurred 1,122 ft from the threshold, with a touchdown speed of 141 kn and a VSI of -147 ft/m. The local weather at the time of landing was 75°F with a wind of 6 kn at 280°, resulting in a crosswind of 4 kn and a headwind of 4 kn. The total landing distance was 4,980 ft, which is 90% of the runway length.
The total flight distance for this Antonov Airlines flight was 11 nm, which took 8 minutes and used 178,307 lbs of fuel.
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