Events
Events
Events
Events
Events
Events
Events
Events
Events
MY FS FLIGHTS
Flight Score
Avoid steep turns at low altitude
Below a thousand feet the aeroplane is slow, heavy and close to the ground. A steep turn loses lift, raises the stall speed and flattens the climb just when the gradient matters most. A normal turn on course is a rate one — fifteen degrees or so, twenty-five at the outside, this penalty is to acknowledge when a turn has stopped being a turn and become a manoeuvre.
Read more in Improve Your Take-OffsStart to finish · 20 stages, 18 in the score
Events
Events
Events
Events
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 82 kt with 4.1° 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 827 ft.
Reached 35 ft with 4,318 ft of runway left; then climbing at 1,700 fpm on average to 827 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 6,548 ft runway.
Rolled from 786 ft in, drifted left of the centreline, 6 ft at the widest, and lifted off 5 ft left, in 6 kn of crosswind from the right. Airborne 26 % 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 2.7 nm, where the final began, to the threshold, never more than 300 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, 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.
Inside the 1° band from 2.7 nm, where the final began, to 1.6 nm, then drifted 170 ft right between 1.6 and 1.1 nm, then back inside it from 1.1 to 0.6 nm, then 70 ft right of it from 0.6 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 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 −3 kt and +14 kt on the approach speed of 80 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
7 kt across from the left, which takes about 6° of crab to hold the centreline at 68 kt. Touched down with 6° of it still on, wings level.
Wind 110° at 9 kt · 5 kt tail · 7 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 3,707 ft of the approach.
Crossed the threshold at 14 ft, 36 ft below the 50 ft target. Touched down 744 ft in, 256 ft short of 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 3,707 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 160 fpm at 12 ft to 100 fpm at touchdown. The nose came up 0.8° 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 3,707 ft runway, to the same scale as the side view.
Touched down 15 ft right of the centreline, and steered back to 4 ft left by the end of 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 744 ft touchdown sits inside the full-score zone. The 1.13 G arrival bounced.
The rest of the report
The flight in question was conducted on the Velocity XL aircraft, departing from Kalgoorlie Boulder Airport (YKPG) and landing at Perth Jandakot Airport (YPJT). The taxiing process from the parking to the runway took less than a minute and covered a distance of less than 1 nautical mile.
As the aircraft departed from runway 11 at YPKG, it achieved a liftoff speed of 82 knots. The local weather conditions at the time of departure were characterized by a temperature of 56°F, with a wind speed of 9 knots at 160°. The crosswind component was 7 knots, while the headwind component was 6 knots.
The enroute climb started overhead YPKG, with the aircraft ascending from 2,044 feet above sea level to 10,077 feet above sea level, an increase of 8,033 feet in just 5 minutes. This climb covered a distance of 13 nautical miles. Following the climb, the aircraft entered a level cruise, starting 2 miles north of YKAO Kalgoorlie Airport. This cruise phase lasted for 149 minutes, covering a distance of 210 nautical miles.
The enroute descent started 9 miles south of Cunderdin, with the aircraft descending from 10,062 feet above sea level to 6,012 feet above sea level, a decrease of 4,049 feet in 8 minutes. This descent covered a distance of 27 nautical miles. The aircraft then entered another level cruise, starting 1 mile south-west of York, which lasted for 5 minutes and covered 15 nautical miles.
The enroute descent started 5 miles south-east of Wundowie, with the aircraft descending from 6,007 feet above sea level to 1,453 feet above sea level, a decrease of 4,554 feet in 10 minutes. This descent covered a distance of 27 nautical miles. Following this descent, the aircraft entered another level cruise, starting overhead Kewdale, which lasted for 4 minutes and covered 5 nautical miles.
The final approach to runway 24R at YPJT was conducted from the north-east, with the aircraft heading 235.0° at 2 nautical miles and 940 feet above ground level. The landing on runway 24R was successful, with a touchdown distance of 738 feet and a touchdown speed of 68 knots. The touchdown rate was excellent at -98 feet per minute.
The local weather conditions at the time of landing were characterized by a temperature of 59°F, with a wind speed of 9 knots at 110°. The crosswind component was 7 knots, while the tailwind component was 5 knots. The total landing distance was 2,086 feet, which accounted for 56% of the runway length. The runway rollout alignment was very good.
The taxiing process from the runway to the parking took 1 minute and covered a distance of less than 1 nautical mile. The total flight distance was 301 nautical miles, taking 101 minutes, and the aircraft used 150 pounds of fuel.
Scroll or drag the slider to zoom · double-click to reset · hover for values