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MY FS FLIGHTS
Flight Score
Work on the flare
See Arrival Landing
Trim is the hidden variable. In trim, the flare is a small refinement to an aircraft already in equilibrium, a couple of millimetres of stick. Out of trim, you're holding a constant force all the way down final, and the flare becomes a large, badly judged movement stacked on top of a load you're already carrying. A striking proportion of "I can't judge the flare" complaints are trim complaints wearing a disguise. If you're holding pressure at 500 feet, fix that before you practise anything else.
Read more in How to Land a Plane Smoothly in Microsoft Flight SimulatorStart to finish · 15 stages, 13 in the score
Events
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From brake release to the end of the climb, against time, then the takeoff point by point.
Lifted off at 68 kt with 2.2° 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 620 ft. The distance scale changes past the runway end.
Reached 35 ft with 2,459 ft of runway left; then climbing at 630 fpm on average to 620 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 4,780 ft runway.
Rolled from 625 ft in, drifted right of the centreline, 33 ft at the widest, and lifted off 30 ft right. Airborne 32 % 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 final from 4 nm.
Profile height against the 3° glideslope, with its 2° band in green.
Inside the glideslope band from 3.2 nm, where the final began, to the threshold, never more than 170 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, 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 1,610 ft left of the centreline at 3.2 nm, then drifted 1,190 ft right between 2.8 and 1.3 nm, then back inside it from 1.3 to 0.6 nm, then 70 ft left of it from 0.6 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
No crosswind: nothing to correct for. Touched down with the nose 1° left of the track, 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.
From 62 kt at touchdown to taxi speed (30 kt) in 9 s, an average deceleration of 0.18 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 5,000 ft of the approach.
Crossed the threshold at 84 ft, 34 ft above the 50 ft target. Touched down 1,937 ft in, 937 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 5,000 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 1,320 fpm at 84 ft to 140 fpm at touchdown. The nose came up 2.5° 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 5,000 ft of the 8,481 ft runway, to the same scale as the side view.
Touched down 38 ft left of the centreline and drifted to 54 ft left on 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.
Touched down 1,937 ft past the threshold — beyond the full-score zone. The 1.30 G arrival bounced.
The rest of the report
The flight began with a departure roll from runway 27 at the George F. L. Charles Airport, also known as TLPC. The aircraft, a PA28 Archer II, accelerated down the runway and lifted off at a speed of 68 knots. The takeoff distance was 1,034 feet, which accounted for 22% of the runway length. The local weather conditions at the time of departure were characterized by a temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit and a gentle wind blowing at 1 knot from a direction of 270 degrees.
As the aircraft climbed away from the airport, it began its enroute climb 1 mile northwest of Castries, Saint Lucia. The climb was steep, with the aircraft ascending from an altitude of 688 feet above sea level to 2,126 feet in just 3 minutes, covering a distance of 4 nautical miles. This rapid ascent was a testament to the aircraft's performance capabilities.
Following the enroute climb, the aircraft entered a level cruise phase, during which it flew at a steady altitude and speed for 8 minutes, covering a distance of 13 nautical miles. This phase of the flight took place overhead Anse La Raye, Saint Lucia.
As the aircraft approached its destination, it began its final approach to runway 10 at the Hewanorra International Airport, also known as TLPL. The approach was made from the west, with the aircraft flying at a heading of 81.0 degrees and an altitude of 626 feet above ground level. The local weather conditions at the time of landing were characterized by a temperature of 59 degrees Fahrenheit and a gentle wind blowing at 1 knot from a direction of 269 degrees.
The landing itself was smooth, with the aircraft touching down at a speed of 61 knots and a rate of -137 feet per minute. However, the touchdown point was 468 feet beyond the touchdown zone, and the runway touchdown position was misaligned by 38 feet from the centreline. The runway rollout alignment was also misaligned by 57 feet from the centreline.
Following the landing, the aircraft taxied to the parking area, covering a distance of less than 1 nautical mile in less than 1 minute. The total flight distance was 22 nautical miles, and the flight duration was 18 minutes. Notably, the aircraft used no fuel during the flight, indicating that it was operating at a very efficient level.
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