Events
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MY FS FLIGHTS
Flight Score
Know your rotation speed
See Departure Roll
A typical trainer rotates in the mid-50s of knots - a 172 at around 55 KIAS, climbing out at a Vy in the low 70s, though check your own POH rather than memorising Cessna's numbers - and the transferable rule is that Vr sits just above the stall speed in takeoff configuration. Rotate early because "it felt ready" and the aircraft lifts off inside ground effect, where induced drag is reduced, then climbs out of it into more drag. On a marginal-performance day the result is an aircraft that lifts off and then refuses to climb, sagging back towards the runway.
Read more in Improve Your Take-OffsStart to finish · 13 stages, 11 in the score
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 77 kt with 1.6° 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 328 ft.
Reached 35 ft with 1,273 ft of runway left; then climbing at 630 fpm on average to 328 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 3,279 ft runway.
Rolled from 415 ft in, drifted left of the centreline, 11 ft at the widest, and lifted off 11 ft left. Airborne 44 % 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: wings more than 10° from level.
When the approach was stable
Every check met from 0.9 nm, about 470 ft above the runway, to the threshold, after the 300 ft gate. The last to settle was the wings.
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.
Inside the glideslope band from 1.1 nm, where the final began, to the threshold, never more than 200 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. 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.
Inside the 1° band all the way from 1.1 nm, never more than 590 ft 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.
Speed against the approach speed. The green band runs from 5 kt slow to 34 kt fast at the 1,000 ft gate, closing to 20 at 500 ft and 10 at the threshold.
Inside the speed band all the way, between +3 kt and +11 kt on the approach speed of 68 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
Perfect landing flare
Little crosswind (2 kt): nothing to correct for. Touched down with the nose 2° left of the track, wings level.
Wind 321° at 4 kt · 2 kt tail · 2 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 62 kt at touchdown to taxi speed (30 kt) in 10 s, an average deceleration of 0.17 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 2,348 ft of the approach.
Crossed the threshold at 29 ft, 21 ft below the 50 ft target. Touched down 795 ft in, 205 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 2,348 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 600 fpm at 28 ft to 60 fpm at touchdown. The nose came up 4.5° 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 2,348 ft runway, to the same scale as the side view.
Touched down 6 ft right of the centreline, and stayed within 7 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 arrow beside the runway is the crosswind, pointing the way the air was moving, so it pushed the aircraft that way.
The 795 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 01 at NK12 Donnelly Airport. The aircraft, a PA28 Warrior II, accelerated down the runway and lifted off at a speed of 77 kt, covering a distance of 1,075 ft, which was 33% of the runway length. The local weather conditions at the time of takeoff were characterized by a temperature of 28 °F and a wind speed of 5 kt from a direction of 317 °, resulting in a crosswind of 4 kt and a headwind of 4 kt.
As the aircraft climbed away from the airport, it began its enroute climb, which started overhead NK12 Donnelly Airport and Wales Center. The aircraft climbed from an altitude of 1,373 ft above sea level to 2,147 ft, an increase of 774 ft, in just 2 minutes, covering a distance of 3 nm. This climb phase was followed by a level cruise, which began 1 mile south east of Elma Center and lasted for 10 minutes, during which the aircraft covered a distance of 15 nm.
The enroute descent phase started overhead Fort Erie, where the aircraft began its descent from an altitude of 2,052 ft above sea level to 1,001 ft, a decrease of 1,051 ft, in just 3 minutes, covering a distance of 2 nm. The final approach to runway 10 at CNJ3 Fort Erie Airport was made from the west, with the aircraft heading 90.0 ° at an altitude of 368 ft above ground level and a distance of 1 nm from the runway threshold.
The landing on runway 10 was successful, with the aircraft touching down at a speed of 61 kt, which was slightly faster than the target speed. The touchdown distance was good at 788 ft, and the runway touchdown alignment was very good. The local weather conditions at the time of landing were characterized by a temperature of 30 °F and a wind speed of 4 kt from a direction of 320 °, resulting in a crosswind of 3 kt and a tailwind of 3 kt.
The total landing distance was 1,585 ft, which was 68% of the runway length. The runway rollout alignment was perfect, indicating a smooth and controlled rollout. The total flight distance was 22 nm, and the flight duration was 16 minutes, during which the aircraft used 14 lbs of fuel. Overall, the flight was characterized by a smooth and controlled climb, cruise, and descent, as well as a successful landing.
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