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MY FS FLIGHTS
Flight Score
Improve the pattern crosswind leg
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 WorkStart to finish · 14 stages, 13 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 58 kt with 5.2° 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 takeoff, point by point
Side view from the start of the roll to 377 ft.
Reached 35 ft with 1,365 m of runway left; then climbing at 730 fpm on average to 377 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 2,737 m runway.
Rolled from 987 m in, never more than 1.4 m off the centreline. Airborne 37 % 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.
Left-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 78 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.
Lost marks: scored 55.
Off heading: 8° from the leg's heading on average.
Spacing cues are relative to your eyepoint, so two simmers with different FOV settings following the same wingtip cue fly patterns half a mile different in width, and a wide FOV compresses depth so the runway on base looks further away than it is, biasing you towards a late turn. Pick a camera position and FOV, save it, and never change it, because every judgement you calibrate is calibrated to that picture.
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 1.1 nm, where the final began, to the threshold, never more than 70 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 3× larger than distances along the final.
Inside the 1° band all the way from 1.1 nm, never more than 145 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.
Over the threshold
Touchdown
Little crosswind (1 kt): nothing to correct for. Touched down with the nose 3° right of the track, wings level.
Wind 270° at 2 kt · 2 kt tail · 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 53 kt at touchdown to taxi speed (30 kt) in 12 s, an average deceleration of 0.12 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 1,524 m of the approach.
Crossed the threshold at 9 ft, 41 ft below the 50 ft target. Touched down 218 m in, 87 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 1,524 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 110 fpm at 8 ft to 60 fpm at touchdown. The nose came up 3.5° 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 1,524 m of the 2,737 m runway, to the same scale as the side view.
Touched down 4.9 m left of the centreline, and stayed about there down the rollout, 5 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 218 m touchdown sits inside the full-score zone. The arrival was smooth.
The rest of the report
The flight began with a departure roll from runway 12 at EGPK Glasgow Prestwick Airport, where the PA28 Archer II aircraft successfully took off with a takeoff distance of 63 meters, which is just 2% of the runway length. The liftoff speed was recorded at 58 knots. The local weather conditions at the time of takeoff were characterized by a temperature of 15°C and a gentle wind of 2 knots from a direction of 270°, resulting in a crosswind of 1 knot and a tailwind of 2 knots.
After taking off, the aircraft entered a left-hand pattern, navigating the circuit in a smooth and efficient manner. The left-hand pattern entry from runway 12 was completed in less than 1 nautical mile in 21 seconds, while the left-hand pattern crosswind leg was covered in 23 seconds. The downwind leg of the pattern was the longest, spanning 2 nautical miles in 108 seconds. The base leg turn, which involved a 45-degree angle to the runway, was completed in 1 nautical mile, while the base leg itself was covered in less than 1 nautical mile in 26 seconds. The final turn, which set the aircraft up for landing, was completed in less than 1 nautical mile in 24 seconds.
The final approach to runway 12 was made from the north-west, with the aircraft flying at a heading of 121.0° and an altitude of 58.5 meters above ground level (agl) at a distance of 1 nautical mile from the runway. The landing was successful, with the aircraft touching down at a speed of 51 knots and a distance of 214 meters, which is just 17% of the runway length. The touchdown rate was an excellent -0.3 meters per second, indicating a smooth and controlled descent. However, the runway touchdown position was slightly misaligned by 5.0 meters from the centerline.
The total landing distance was 470 meters, and the runway rollout alignment was very good. The total flight distance was 6 nautical miles, and the flight used no fuel, indicating a highly efficient and economical operation. Overall, the flight was characterized by smooth and controlled flight, efficient navigation of the circuit, and a successful landing.
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