Events
Events
Events
MY FS FLIGHTS
Flight Score
Hold the approach angle
See Arrival Final 3
Preparing for a stable approach will give you time to decide on whether to attempt the landing or going around. Too much altitude with a high sink rate will result in carrying too much speed onto the runway. Configuring flaps and the gear late also won't help the speed decay.
Read more in The Stabilised ApproachStart to finish · 15 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 60 kt with 4.9° 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 162 ft.
Reached 35 ft with 236 ft of runway left; then climbing at 450 fpm on average to 162 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 2,859 ft runway.
Rolled from 469 ft in, drifted left of the centreline, 14 ft at the widest, and lifted off 12 ft left, in 5 kn of crosswind from the right. Airborne 43 % 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.
The final from 4 nm.
Profile height against the 3° glideslope, with its 2° band in green.
Inside the glideslope band from 1.6 nm, where the final began, to the threshold, never more than 240 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.
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 820 ft left of the centreline at 1.6 nm, then inside it from 1.3 to 1.0 nm, then drifted 110 ft right between 1.0 and 0.8 nm, then inside the band from 0.8 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.
Over the threshold
Touchdown
5 kt across from the right, which takes about 4° of crab to hold the centreline at 70 kt. Touched down with 4° of it still on, wings level.
Wind 268° at 8 kt · 5 kt tail · 5 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 81 kt at touchdown to taxi speed (30 kt) in 11 s, an average deceleration of 0.24 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 2,859 ft of the approach.
Crossed the threshold at 61 ft, 11 ft above the 50 ft target. Touched down 1,425 ft in, 425 ft past 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 2,859 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 4,560 fpm at 59 ft to 440 fpm at touchdown. The nose came up 5.4° 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 2,859 ft runway, to the same scale as the side view.
Touched down 9 ft left of the centreline, and stayed within 10 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 1,425 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 14 at Mountain Air Airport, where the aircraft, a Piper PA28-236 Dakota with the registration N1303W, accelerated down the 2,859-foot runway and lifted off at a speed of 60 knots. The takeoff distance was 810 feet, which accounted for 28% of the available runway. The local weather conditions at the time of departure were characterized by a temperature of 71°F and a wind speed of 7 knots from a direction of 266°, resulting in a crosswind of 6 knots and a tailwind of 5 knots.
As the aircraft climbed away from the airport, it began its enroute climb, which started overhead the airport and continued to an altitude of 5,279 feet above sea level. During this climb, the aircraft increased its altitude by 692 feet in just 1 minute, covering a distance of 1 nautical mile. Following the climb, the aircraft entered a level cruise, which lasted for 4 minutes and covered a distance of 3 nautical miles. This cruise phase took place 1 mile east of the airport.
The final approach to runway 14 at Mountain Air Airport was initiated from a heading of 135.0°, which was 1 nautical mile from the runway and at an altitude of 580 feet above ground level. The aircraft then began its descent and touched down on the runway, using more than 50% of the available runway. The touchdown speed was 70 knots, and the touchdown rate was hard at -442 feet per minute. Despite the challenging touchdown, the runway touchdown alignment was very good.
The landing distance was 2,305 feet, which accounted for 81% of the available runway. The runway rollout alignment was also very good, indicating that the aircraft was well under control during the landing phase. The local weather conditions at the time of landing were similar to those at departure, with a temperature of 70°F and a wind speed of 8 knots from a direction of 267°, resulting in a crosswind of 6 knots and a tailwind of 5 knots.
In total, the flight covered a distance of 6 nautical miles and lasted for 8 minutes, consuming 4 pounds of fuel. The flight was characterized by a smooth and controlled climb, cruise, and descent, with a challenging touchdown that was well-handled by the pilot.
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