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 · 17 stages, 15 in the score
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 5.5° 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 407 ft.
Reached 35 ft with 4,552 ft of runway left; then climbing at 690 fpm on average to 407 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 7,005 ft runway.
Rolled from 376 ft in, drifted left of the centreline, 143 ft at the widest, and lifted off 145 ft left. Airborne 19 % 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 final from 4 nm.
Profile height against the 3.3° glideslope, with its 1° band in green.
Low from 4 nm to 3.5 nm (up to 500 ft under), then back on it to 2.3 nm, then low to 1.4 nm (up to 260 ft under), then back on it to the threshold.
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: 3.3° here, which is about 350 ft for every nautical mile out, crossing the threshold at about 60 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.
Joined 6,380 ft left of the centreline, then inside the band from 2.0 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 32 kt fast at the 1,000 ft gate, closing to 18 at 500 ft and 10 at the threshold.
Slow from 4 nm to 3.3 nm (up to −6 kt), then inside the band to 2.3 nm, then slow to the threshold (up to −13 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
No crosswind: nothing to correct for. Touched down straight, wings level.
Wind 231° at 3 kt · 3 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 55 kt at touchdown to taxi speed (30 kt) in 6 s, an average deceleration of 0.22 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 3,127 ft of the approach.
Crossed the threshold at 52 ft, close to the 50 ft target. Touched down 779 ft in, 221 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 3,127 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 300 fpm at 50 ft to 200 fpm at touchdown. The nose came up 3.8° 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 3,127 ft runway, to the same scale as the side view.
Touched down on the centreline, and stayed within 3 ft 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.
The 779 ft 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 22 at LaGuardia Airport (KLGA), where the aircraft, a DHC-4 Caribou, accelerated down the runway and lifted off at a speed of 82 kt. The takeoff distance was 1,070 ft, which accounted for 15% of the runway length. The local weather conditions at the time of departure were characterized by a temperature of 61 °F and a wind speed of 1 kt from 270 °, resulting in a negligible crosswind and headwind.
As the aircraft climbed away from LaGuardia, it began its enroute climb, which started overhead Jackson Heights, a neighborhood in Queens, New York. The climb from 430 ft above sea level (asl) to 685 ft asl was achieved in just 1 minute, covering a distance of 1 nm. The aircraft then leveled off and entered a cruise phase, which lasted for 2 minutes and covered 3 nm. This initial cruise phase ended 1 mile north of Woodside, another neighborhood in Queens.
The aircraft then began its descent, which started overhead Hell's Kitchen, a neighborhood in Manhattan. The descent from 1,107 ft asl to 579 ft asl was achieved in 2 minutes, covering a distance of 2 nm. Following the descent, the aircraft leveled off and entered another cruise phase, which lasted for 31 minutes and covered less than 1 nm. This cruise phase took place overhead Gramercy Park, a neighborhood in Manhattan.
The aircraft then began another climb, which started overhead Gramercy Park and took it from 579 ft asl to 1,052 ft asl in 2 minutes, covering a distance of 2 nm. Following this climb, the aircraft entered another cruise phase, which lasted for 7 minutes and covered 9 nm. This final cruise phase took place overhead the Financial District, a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.
The final approach to runway 27 at Linden Airport (KLDJ) was made from the east, with the aircraft heading 263.0 ° at 2 nm and 491 ft above ground level (agl). The landing was made on a runway length of 3,127 ft, with a good threshold height. The threshold speed was slightly below the target speed of 63 kt, but the touchdown distance was good at 771 ft, and the touchdown speed was also good at 56 kt. However, the touchdown rate was fair at -206 fpm.
The total landing distance was 1,130 ft, which accounted for 36% of the runway length. The runway rollout alignment was perfect, and the total flight distance was 20 nm, which was completed in 13 minutes. Notably, the aircraft used 0 lbs of fuel during the flight.
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