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MY FS FLIGHTS
Flight Score
Keep the approach speed on target
Every knot above Vref is stored kinetic energy, and energy stored at the threshold must be dissipated in ground effect before the aeroplane will stop flying. Because kinetic energy scales with the square of speed, the excess you must dissipate grows fast. At a 45-knot approach, five knots hot is over a tenth more speed and roughly a quarter more energy to get rid of in ground effect. This is why the fix is never in the flare. It was decided three miles earlier, on final, at the airspeed indicator.
Read more in VRef ExplainedStart to finish · 17 stages, 15 scored
Events
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One stabilised approach gate for a circuit: six checks at the point nearest 500 ft above the runway after the base turn. The 1,000 ft gate is an instrument-approach check and does not apply. These checks are the approach's score.
The approach, gate by gate
Side view — the last 1,524 m of the approach.
Plan view — the first 1,524 m of the 3,284 m runway, to the same scale as the side view.
Touched down 596 m past the threshold — beyond the full-score zone. The arrival was smooth.
The rest of the report
The Beechcraft Baron 55 taxied to runway 05R at NZAA Auckland International Airport and commenced the departure roll. The take-off run measured 559 m, representing 17 % of the available runway, and the aircraft lifted off at 98 kt. Local conditions were 33 °C with a wind of 3 kt from 001°, a 3 kt cross-wind component and a 1 kt head-wind component.
The aircraft entered a right-hand pattern on runway 05R, covering less than 1 nm in 21 seconds.
During the right-hand pattern crosswind leg the aircraft flew 1 nm in 30 seconds.
The downwind turn was executed over a distance of 2 nm with a 45° turn angle measured at 99.9°.
The downwind leg extended 4 nm and was completed in 102 seconds.
The base-leg turn spanned 4 nm with a 45° turn angle of 33.4°.
The base leg itself was 1 nm long and required 47 seconds to fly.
The final turn covered 1 nm and was completed in 34 seconds.
On final approach to runway 05R the aircraft descended from 954 ft AGL to 60 ft AGL in 103 seconds and was recorded as having scored on the stabilisation gates.
Landing was made on runway 05R, whose length is 3 284 m; the threshold speed was 102 kt. Touchdown occurred 166 m beyond the touchdown zone at a speed of 90 kt, with a vertical rate of minus 169 fpm and very good runway-alignment. At the time, temperature was 32 °C, wind 5 kt from 358°, a 5 kt cross-wind and a 1 kt head-wind. The total landing distance was 993 m, representing 30 % of the runway, and rollout alignment was very good.
The aircraft taxied from the runway to parking in 1 minute, covering less than 1 nm.
In total the flight covered 14 nm, took 8 minutes and consumed 195 kg of fuel.
The Beechcraft Baron 55 approached runway 05R at Auckland International Airport with an unstable profile at the 1,000 ft gate, being more than 20 kt above VREF, and descended from 954 ft agl to 60 ft agl in 103 seconds, scoring on the stabilisation gates.
At threshold the height was good but the threshold speed was excessively high at 102 kt; the aircraft crossed the touchdown zone 166 m beyond its limit, touched down at an excessively fast 90 kt, yet the vertical rate was good at minus 169 fpm and runway touchdown alignment was very good.
During touchdown the aircraft’s point of contact remained 166 m beyond the touchdown zone, speed remained at the excessive 90 kt, vertical rate stayed at minus 169 fpm and alignment continued to be very good.
The rollout covered a total landing distance of 993 m, representing 30 % of the 3,284 m runway, and runway rollout alignment was very good.
Refine speed management to achieve VREF by the 1,000 ft gate and reduce the touchdown speed to the target range; a more disciplined flare will help place the touchdown point nearer the intended zone and maintain the good alignment already demonstrated.
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