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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 · 11 stages, 10 scored
Events
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Events
The threshold, the flare and the hold-off. The approach that led to it is the stabilisation gates below.
One stabilised approach gate for a circuit: five checks where the approach path is 500 ft above the runway. The 1,000 ft gate is an instrument-approach check and does not apply.
Side view — the last 1,059 m of the approach.
Plan view — the full 1,059 m runway, to the same scale as the side view.
Touched down 566 m past the threshold — beyond the full-score zone. The arrival was smooth.
The rest of the report
The flight in the XCub from KLNA Palm Beach County Park Airport was relatively short, covering a total distance of 3nm. The taxi from the parking area to the runway took 2 minutes and less than 1 nm was covered.
The departure roll from runway 10 was smooth with the aircraft taking off after a distance of 315 ft, using 9% of the runway length. The liftoff speed was 49 knots. The local weather conditions at the time of departure were 91°F with a light wind of 2 knots coming from 100°. While there was no significant crosswind, there was a slight headwind of 2 knots.
The flight followed a left-hand pattern entry from runway 10, quickly covering less than 1 nm in just 22 seconds. This was followed by a left-hand pattern crosswind leg, covering a similar distance in 32 seconds. The downwind leg of the pattern covered 1 nm in 86 seconds.
The final approach to runway 10 was made from the west at a heading of 84.0°, 0 nm out and 291 ft above ground level. The landing on the 3,474 ft runway was less than ideal. The threshold height of 127 ft above ground level was excessively over the target and the threshold speed of 93 knots was also high. The touch down point was excessively long, using more than 75% of the available runway. However, the touchdown speed of 68 knots and rate of descent at -159 ft/m were within acceptable limits. The touchdown position was slightly misaligned by 11 ft from the centerline.
Overall, the flight consumed 2 lbs of fuel and lasted a total of 5 minutes. The local weather conditions at the time of landing were still 91°F with a light 2 knot headwind.
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