Events
Events
Events
Events
Events
MY FS FLIGHTS
Flight Score
Maintain the centreline
See Departure Roll
A small uncorrected heading error at 40 knots becomes a metre of offset per second by 100 knots, noticed only at rotation, producing a crabbed liftoff. Root cause is nearly always eyes on the tape instead of the far end of the runway. Small heading changes displace a distant point visibly long before the nearby centreline stripes look wrong.
Read more in Improve Your Take-OffsStart to finish · 12 stages, 10 in the score
Events
Events
Events
Events
Events
From brake release to the end of the climb, against time, then the takeoff point by point.
Lifted off at 73 kt with 2.4° 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 712 ft. The distance scale changes past the runway end.
Reached 35 ft with 447 m of runway left; then climbing at 860 fpm on average to 712 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 1,230 m runway.
Rolled from 98 m in, drifted left of the centreline, 8.1 m at the widest, and lifted off 5.6 m left, in 8 kn of crosswind from the left. Airborne 33 % 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.
One stabilised approach gate: seven checks where the approach path is 300 ft above the runway. The 1,000 ft gate was not assessed, because the approach did not join final that far out.
At the 300 ft gate: glideslope more than 2° off the runway's 3°, centreline more than 1° off and wings more than 10° from level.
When the approach was stable
Never every check met at once: high all the way, fast all the way, banked until 0.7 nm, right of the centreline until 0.4 nm, sinking too fast from 0.3 nm to the threshold.
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.
High from 1.1 nm, where the final began, to the threshold (up to 360 ft over).
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 3× larger than distances along the final.
Joined 146 m right of the centreline at 1.1 nm, then inside the band from 0.4 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.
Speed against the approach speed. The green band runs from 5 kt slow to 35 kt fast at the 1,000 ft gate, closing to 21 at 500 ft and 10 at the threshold.
Fast from 1.1 nm, where the final began, to the threshold (up to +30 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
Good landing flare
10 kt across from the left, which takes about 9° of crab to hold the centreline at 66 kt. Touched down with 8° of it still on, wings level.
Wind 284° at 11 kt · 3 kt head · 10 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 1,230 m of the approach.
Crossed the threshold at 68 ft, 18 ft above the 50 ft target. Touched down 377 m in, 73 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 1,230 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 870 fpm at 69 ft to 280 fpm at touchdown. The nose came up 6.3° 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 1,230 m runway, to the same scale as the side view.
Touched down 6.7 m left of the centreline and drifted to 11 m left on the rollout.
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 377 m touchdown sits inside the full-score zone. The 1.05 G arrival bounced 2 times.
The rest of the report
Departing from Reichelsheim Airfield (EDFB), a Piper PA-24-250 Comanche began its takeoff roll on runway 36. The aircraft accelerated to a liftoff speed of 73 kt, achieving lift-off in a distance of 431 m, which accounted for 35% of the available runway length. The local weather conditions at the time of departure featured a temperature of 9 °C and a wind of 10 kt from 281°, resulting in a crosswind of 9 kt and a headwind of 2 kt.
As the aircraft transitioned to the enroute climb phase, it began ascending from an initial altitude of 1,462 ft above sea level to 1,869 ft, a gain of 407 ft in just 1 minute. This climb phase was followed by a level cruise, which lasted for 6 minutes and covered a distance of 11 nm. The aircraft then commenced its final approach to runway 36, descending from an altitude of 846 ft above ground level while heading 356.0°. However, the threshold height at 69 ft above ground level was above the target, and the threshold speed of 83 kt was higher than desired.
The Piper PA-24-250 Comanche landed on runway 36, with a touchdown distance of 376 m, which was within acceptable limits. The touchdown speed of 66 kt was slightly faster than optimal, and the touchdown rate of -298 fpm was fair. The runway touchdown position was slightly misaligned from the centreline by 6.7 m. The total landing distance of 697 m accounted for 57% of the available runway length, and the runway rollout alignment was also slightly misaligned by 13.1 m from the centreline. The total flight distance was 15 nm, covering a distance of 8 minutes and consuming 5 kg of fuel.
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