Events
Events
Events
Events
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, 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 61 kt with 1.3° 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 370 ft.
Reached 35 ft with 501 m of runway left; then climbing at 570 fpm on average to 370 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 1,322 m runway.
Rolled from 54 m in, drifted left of the centreline, 3.1 m at the widest, and lifted off 1.9 m 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.
Right-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, 0.9 nm out at 86 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.
Off heading: 49° from the leg's heading on average.
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 WorkLow on downwind: 558 ft against 1,000 ft, 442 ft below.
Descending on downwind. Power comes back abeam, the aircraft isn't re-trimmed, your eyes are outside judging the turn point, and 100 ft leaks away before base. Shows up as a low gate 2, and everything after it is a scramble.
Read more in Pattern WorkLate: turned base with the threshold 4° behind, against 45°.
The stopwatch. From abeam the threshold, fly roughly 30 to 45 seconds before turning base, in nil wind at 172 speeds. Treat that as a starting value and calibrate it. If your finals keep coming out at 400 ft instead of 500, add a few seconds. Then adjust for wind, roughly a second per knot of headwind on final (a headwind on final is a tailwind on downwind, carrying you further from the field per second).
Read more in Pattern WorkOver the threshold
Touchdown
Fair landing flare
No crosswind: nothing to correct for. Touched down straight, 3° of bank.
Wind 276° at 2 kt · 2 kt head · 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.
From 64 kt at touchdown to taxi speed (30 kt) in 15 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 1,322 m of the approach.
Crossed the threshold at 38 ft, 12 ft below the 50 ft target. Touched down 615 m in, 311 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 1,322 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 1,040 fpm at 36 ft to 100 fpm at touchdown. The nose came up 8.5° 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 full 1,322 m runway, to the same scale as the side view.
Touched down on the centreline, and stayed within 1.8 m of it down 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.
Touched down 615 m past the threshold — beyond the full-score zone. The 1.09 G arrival bounced.
The rest of the report
The flight began with a departure roll from runway 28 at LSZR Sankt Gallen Altenrhein Airport, where the PA38 Tomahawk aircraft took off with a takeoff distance of 405 meters, which accounted for 31% of the runway. The liftoff speed was 62 knots. At the time of takeoff, the local weather conditions were characterized by a temperature of 15 degrees Celsius and a wind speed of 2 knots from a direction of 276 degrees. This resulted in a negligible crosswind and a headwind of 2 knots.
After takeoff, the aircraft entered a left-hand pattern, which it completed in a timely manner. The left-hand pattern entry from runway 28 took less than 1 nautical mile in 42 seconds, while the left-hand pattern crosswind took less than 1 nautical mile in 84 seconds. The pattern downwind turn covered a distance of 1 nautical mile, with an angle to the runway of 46.9 degrees. The downwind leg of the pattern covered a distance of 2 nautical miles in 63 seconds.
As the aircraft approached the runway, it made a base leg turn, which was completed in a short distance of 0 nautical miles, with an angle to the runway of 4.3 degrees. The final approach to runway 28 was made from the east, with a heading of 280 degrees at an altitude of 54 feet above ground level (agl) and a distance of 0 nautical miles from the runway.
The landing on runway 28 was characterized by a threshold height that was considered good, but the threshold speed was excessively high at 88 knots. The touchdown point was very long, using more than 50% of the available runway, and the touchdown speed was too fast at 60 knots. However, the touchdown rate was perfect at -33 feet per minute (fpm), and the runway touchdown alignment was very good.
The local weather conditions at the time of landing were similar to those at takeoff, with a temperature of 15 degrees Celsius and a wind speed of 3 knots from a direction of 269 degrees. This resulted in a negligible crosswind and a headwind of 3 knots. The total landing distance was 994 meters, which accounted for 75% of the runway. The runway rollout alignment was perfect, indicating a smooth and controlled descent.
In conclusion, the flight was completed with a total distance of 4 nautical miles, which took 5 minutes to cover, and a fuel consumption of 1 kilogram. Overall, the flight was characterized by a smooth and controlled takeoff and landing, with some minor issues related to speed and touchdown point.
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