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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 · 16 stages, 14 in the score
Events
Events
Events
Events
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Events
From brake release to the end of the climb, against time, then the takeoff point by point.
Lifted off at 84 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 545 ft. The distance scale changes past the runway end.
Reached 35 ft with 185 m of runway left; then climbing at 810 fpm on average to 545 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 758 m runway.
Rolled from the start of the runway, drifted 1.7 m right of the centreline and was back on it to lift off. Airborne 39 % 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.
Left-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, 1 nm out at 105 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.
Lost marks: scored 55.
Turn onto downwind: scored 78.
The 45-degrees-behind-the-wing cue assumes you can turn your head and use peripheral vision. Downwind spacing cues like "put the wingtip halfway up the strut" assume a fixed, known eyepoint. Neither survives a monitor unmodified. If you fly on a fixed monitor, stop pretending and fly a numbers-based circuit.
Read more in Pattern WorkLost marks: scored 70.
The final from 4 nm.
Profile height against the 3° glideslope, with its 2° band in green.
Inside the glideslope band from 2.2 nm, where the final began, to the threshold, never more than 120 ft below the slope.
Your height above the runway against the distance still to go. The glideslope is the steady descent path to the aiming point, 305 m 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.
Joined 520 m left of the centreline at 2.2 nm, then inside the band from 1.8 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 −5 kt and +24 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
No crosswind: nothing to correct for. Touched down with the nose 1° left of the track, 2° of bank.
Wind 020° at 14 kt · 14 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 60 kt at touchdown to taxi speed (30 kt) in 13 s, an average deceleration of 0.13 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 758 m of the approach.
Crossed the threshold at 34 ft, 16 ft below the 50 ft target. Touched down 235 m in, 69 m short of 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 758 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 490 fpm at 34 ft to 140 fpm at touchdown. The nose came up 2.7° 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 758 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.
The 235 m touchdown sits inside the full-score zone. The 1.12 G arrival bounced.
The rest of the report
This flight began with a taxiing period from the parking area to the runway, which took approximately 4 minutes and covered a distance of less than 1 nautical mile. The aircraft, a DA-50, then departed from runway 02 at EGKA Brighton City Airport. The takeoff distance was 496 meters, which accounted for 65% of the runway length. The liftoff speed was achieved at 85 knots.
The local weather conditions at the time of takeoff were characterized by a temperature of 17 °C and a wind speed of 16 knots from a direction of 20 °. This resulted in a headwind of 16 knots, with no crosswind component. The pilot then entered a left-hand pattern from runway 02, covering a distance of less than 1 nautical mile in just 16 seconds.
As the aircraft continued its pattern, it encountered a crosswind from runway 02, which it navigated in 18 seconds. The pilot then executed a pattern downwind turn, covering a distance of 1 nautical mile at an angle of 55.6 ° to the runway. The downwind leg itself was 3 nautical miles long and took 84 seconds to complete.
The pilot then initiated a base leg turn, covering a distance of 2 nautical miles at an angle of 4.9 ° to the runway. The final approach to runway 02 was made from the south, with the aircraft flying at a heading of 24.0 ° and an altitude of 561 feet above ground level (agl) at a distance of 2 nautical miles from the runway.
The landing on runway 02 was successful, with the aircraft touching down at a speed of 75 knots and a distance of 234 meters. The touchdown rate was smooth, at -139 feet per minute (fpm), and the runway touchdown alignment was very good. The local weather conditions at the time of landing were characterized by a temperature of 16 °C and a wind speed of 14 knots from a direction of 20 °, resulting in a headwind of 14 knots with no crosswind component.
The total landing distance was 518 meters, which accounted for 68% of the runway length. The runway rollout alignment was perfect, indicating a smooth and controlled descent. The total flight distance was 8 nautical miles, taking approximately 10 minutes to complete, and the aircraft used 3 kilograms of fuel during the flight.
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