Events
Events
Events
MY FS FLIGHTS
Flight Score
Smooth the climb
A good takeoff has a defined shape. It also has a defined end. For an airliner that's thrust reduction and acceleration, commonly somewhere around 1,000 to 1,500 ft above the airfield depending on the operator, while for a light aircraft it's established at Vy with the flaps on schedule. Most simmers have no defined end to their takeoff, which is exactly why it never gets judged.
Read more in Improve Your Take-OffsStart to finish · 13 stages, 13 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 63 kt with 1.8° 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 489 ft.
Reached 35 ft with 186 m of runway left; then climbing at 620 fpm on average to 489 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 1,814 m runway.
Rolled from 1,288 m in, drifted left of the centreline, 2.9 m at the widest, and lifted off 2.9 m left. Airborne 72 % 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 92 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.
Good: full marks on the turn and the leg after it.
Good: full marks on the turn and the leg after it.
Good: full marks on the turn and the leg after it.
Good: full marks on the turn.
The final from 4 nm.
Profile height against the 3° glideslope, with its 2° band in green.
Inside the glideslope band from 0.9 nm, where the final began, to the threshold, never more than 30 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, 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.
Inside the 1° band all the way from 0.9 nm, never more than 207 m 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 35 kt fast at the 1,000 ft gate, closing to 21 at 500 ft and 10 at the threshold.
Inside the speed band all the way, between −3 kt and +4 kt on the approach speed of 70 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
Very good landing flare
No crosswind: nothing to correct for. Touched down straight, wings level.
Wind 270° at 1 kt · 1 kt tail · 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.
Side view — the last 1,524 m of the approach.
Crossed the threshold at 45 ft, close to the 50 ft target. Touched down 568 m in, 263 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 1,524 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 520 fpm at 46 ft to 90 fpm at touchdown. The nose came up 11.3° 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 first 1,524 m of the 1,814 m runway, to the same scale as the side view.
Touched down on the centreline.
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 568 m past the threshold — beyond the full-score zone. The arrival was smooth.
The rest of the report
The flight began with a departure roll from runway 05 at EGPE Inverness Airport. The PA38 Tomahawk aircraft required a takeoff distance of 1,335 meters, which is 74% of the runway length. The liftoff speed was achieved at 64 knots. At the time of departure, the local weather conditions were characterized by a temperature of 16 degrees Celsius and a wind speed of 1 knot from a direction of 270 degrees, resulting in a negligible crosswind and tailwind.
As the aircraft entered the right-hand pattern from runway 05, it demonstrated impressive agility, completing the turn in less than 1 nautical mile in just 19 seconds. The subsequent right-hand pattern crosswind turn was even quicker, taking only 7 seconds to complete. The pilot then executed a pattern downwind turn, covering a distance of 1 nautical mile at an angle of 45.2 degrees to the runway. The downwind leg itself was 2 nautical miles long and took 97 seconds to complete.
The base leg turn was another 1 nautical mile in distance, with the aircraft turning at an angle of 47.0 degrees to the runway. The base leg itself was less than 1 nautical mile long and took 31 seconds to complete. The final turn was also less than 1 nautical mile in distance and took 32 seconds to complete. The aircraft then began its final approach to runway 05 from the southwest, heading at 49.0 degrees and at an altitude of 231 feet above ground level.
The landing was executed smoothly, with the aircraft touching down 124 meters beyond the touchdown zone. The touchdown speed was 36 knots, which was within the target range, and the touchdown rate was an excellent -95 feet per minute. The runway touchdown alignment was perfect, indicating that the pilot had successfully aligned the aircraft with the runway during the final approach. The local weather conditions at the time of landing were similar to those at departure, with a temperature of 15 degrees Celsius and a wind speed of 1 knot from a direction of 270 degrees.
The flight was a relatively short one, covering a total distance of 8 nautical miles in 5 minutes. The aircraft used a total of 1 kilogram of fuel during the flight. Overall, the flight demonstrated the PA38 Tomahawk's agility and responsiveness, as well as the pilot's skill and experience in navigating the aircraft through various phases of flight.
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