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MY FS FLIGHTS
Flight Score
Keep the approach speed on target
See Arrival Landing
Every knot above Vref is stored kinetic energy, and energy stored at the threshold must be dissipated in ground effect before the aeroplane will stop flying. Because kinetic energy scales with the square of speed, the excess you must dissipate grows fast. At a 45-knot approach, five knots hot is over a tenth more speed and roughly a quarter more energy to get rid of in ground effect. This is why the fix is never in the flare. It was decided three miles earlier, on final, at the airspeed indicator.
Read more in VRef ExplainedStart to finish · 21 stages, 20 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 94 kt with 4.2° 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 963 ft. The distance scale changes past the runway end.
Reached 35 ft with 589 m of runway left; then climbing at 1,870 fpm on average to 963 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 1,130 m runway.
Rolled from the start of the runway, drifted 3.6 m left of the centreline and was back on it to lift off. Airborne 29 % 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.
Two stabilised approach gates, each with seven checks, where the approach path is 1,000 ft and 500 ft above the runway.
At the 1,000 ft gate: gear still up.
At the 500 ft gate: speed more than 25 kt above the approach speed of 83 kt.
When the approach was stable
Never every check met at once: fast all the way, gear up until 2.8 nm and sinking too fast until 0.4 nm.
Each line is one of the gate checks, run along the whole final rather than only at the gates: green where it would have passed, amber where it would not. The glideslope, centreline and speed lines use the bands in the charts beside this card. The sink rate is allowed what the glideslope needs at your ground speed plus 600 fpm, the wings 10° of bank, and the gear and flap are read from when you moved the levers. The bottom line is green where every check held at once, ignoring blips shorter than 0.2 nm, and the sentence above it says from where it held to the threshold. A ring is a stabilisation gate, where the checks in the table were taken.
The final from 4 nm, with the stabilisation gates on it.
Profile height against the 3° glideslope, with its 2° band in green.
Inside the glideslope band from 4 nm to the threshold, never more than 190 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. A ring is a stabilisation gate: green when every check there passed, amber with the failed checks named beside it.
Plan distance off the extended centreline, your left at the top, with the 1° band. Sideways distances are drawn 8× larger than distances along the final.
Inside the 1° band all the way from 4 nm, never more than 46 m off the centreline.
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 42 kt fast at the 1,000 ft gate, closing to 25 at 500 ft and 10 at the threshold.
Fast from 4 nm to the threshold (up to +71 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
Fair landing flare
No crosswind: nothing to correct for. Touched down straight, wings level.
Wind 270° at 6 kt · 6 kt tail · 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.
Side view — the last 1,119 m of the approach.
Crossed the threshold at 29 ft, 21 ft below the 50 ft target. Touched down 630 m in, 325 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 1,119 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.
From 28 ft the descent stopped and turned into a climb of 120 fpm before coming down at 400 fpm to touch. The pitch barely changed.
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 1,119 m runway, to the same scale as the side view.
Touched down 3 m left of the centreline.
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.
Touched down 630 m past the threshold — beyond the full-score zone. The arrival was smooth.
The rest of the report
The flight began at Perth Jandakot Airport, where the aircraft, a Beechcraft Baron G58, departed from runway 06L. The aircraft started its takeoff roll, covering 403 meters, or 36% of the runway's length, before lifting off at a speed of 94 knots. The temperature was 15°C, and a gentle tailwind of 5 knots and a crosswind of 3 knots aided the takeoff.
As the aircraft gained altitude, it started its enroute climb, rising from 1,106 feet to 2,988 feet in just 2 minutes, a vertical increase of 1,883 feet. This ascent covered a distance of 5 nautical miles. The climb was followed by a level cruise, which lasted for 8 minutes and covered 4 nautical miles, taking the aircraft 1 mile northeast of Haynes.
The aircraft then began its enroute descent, dropping from 2,856 feet to 1,153 feet in just 3 minutes, a decrease of 1,703 feet. This descent covered 8 nautical miles and took the aircraft over Piara Waters. The aircraft then started another climb, this time from 1,149 feet to 3,022 feet in 3 minutes, covering a distance of 7 nautical miles and taking the aircraft over Kewdale.
The aircraft continued to alternate between climbs and level cruises, with a brief descent over Bickley and another climb from 3,048 feet to 3,617 feet, covering 2 nautical miles. It then entered a level cruise over Bickley, lasting 5 minutes and covering less than 1 nautical mile. The aircraft then started another climb from 3,886 feet to 4,505 feet, covering 4 nautical miles and taking the aircraft over Lesmurdie.
After a 25-minute level cruise over Lesmurdie, the aircraft began its final descent, dropping from 3,985 feet to 1,278 feet in just 3 minutes, a decrease of 2,707 feet. This descent covered a distance of 10 nautical miles and took the aircraft 14 miles west of Rottnest Island.
The final approach to runway 09 at Rottnest Island Airport was made from the west, with the aircraft heading 92.0° at 4 nautical miles and 1,250 feet above ground level. However, the landing was not without issues, as the touchdown point was very long, covering more than 50% of the available runway. The touchdown speed was also excessively fast at 107 knots, and the runway touchdown position was slightly misaligned by 5.4 meters from the centerline.
The local weather conditions at the time of landing were a temperature of 16°C and a gentle tailwind of 6 knots. The total flight distance was 91 nautical miles, taking 53 minutes to complete and using 50 kilograms of fuel.
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