[HOW-TO] Line-up and take off

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While it’s much easier to take-off than land (nicely), there is still a few things to keep in mind.

Line-up clearance / intentions

On a controlled airport you don’t have the right to line up and take-off whenever you want, you may already got the clearance to taxy up to the holding point (the position before the yellow marking crossing the taxi way), you don’t have yet the clearance to enter a runway. On bigger airports, ground or apron frequencies will handle your taxi movement, and tower should handle your line-up and clearing for departure.

On an un-controlled airport (without controllers / tower) you, as pilot, are responsible of your movements, line-up and take-off. However you should communicate what you want to do. So before any operation you should say on the radio your plans (HB-PPT parking will taxi to holding position RWY 26) then (HB-PPT holding position RWY 26 will line up RWY 26 departure outbound sector west).

On many airport the run-up (check out the aircraft preparation) is done in the holding position.

Just before lining up, a last check has to be done (a short one):

Line-up check

  • Windows, door, cockpit closed and checked
  • Landing lights on
  • Strobe on
  • Time noted (engine timer and navigation plan)
  • Talk (radio)

On the runway

Once lined up on the runway, make sure your wheels are straight (maybe make 1m more to straight them up), check the RWY number and align the directional giro to the RWY number. Look for the wind direction.

Take off

Break released and full throttle. While rolling on the RWY you must control that the airspeed increase (in case the indicator is dead or you didn’t remove the cap), handle the torque (for single prop your aircraft will tends to go left) with the rudders. Reaching VRot (rotation speed) you pull the stick to climb and wait that your speed reaches Vx in a stable way (Vx and Vy are values defines in the AFM). Don’t forget to handle the p-factor while in climb.

Vx stable

Many if not most aircraft which have fixed RPM handling (where you can control throttle and RPM separately), you should reduce RPM as soon as you are clear of obstacles (50ft or like 10m) for noise reduction.

Once Vx is stable and you are clear of obstacle you:

  • Gear up
  • Flaps up
  • Accelerate to Vy
  • Once at Vy trim

Climb check

At some point in the climb (normally turning cross wind or nearly) you do the climb check which includes normally:

  • Gears up checked
  • Flaps up checked
  • Check RPM / Throttle
  • Fuel pump off

Leaving circuit / reaching waypoint

In non-controlled airfields you should continue at circuit altitude / speed while being on the circuit till you leave it. In a controlled airport on the other side you usually have defined outbound routes / waypoints you must follow and call to the controller. Keep in mind you altitude as both circuits and waypoints do have altitudes indicated which you must comply in real life.

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Great post! However, if i starting my take off; my plane is steering automatic to the left… I need to push it back constantly on the flight stick to keep it straight…
If i’m rolling on low speed or flying i dont have this problem. What can be the issue?

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this is normal behaviour due to physics, use the right rudder to correct this.

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That depends. If it’s a jet, it’s not normal (except if there’s a crosswind from the left)

@bertrandch …handle the torque (for single prop your aircraft will tends to go left) with the rudders
This applies to most prop driven aircraft, not only single engine ones.

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@PZL104 as twin prop use counter-rotating propellers most if not all the effects are balanced. Therefore you do not need so much rudder if any at all.

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@bertrandch
I don’t know where you’ve got this wrong info from, but only very few twins have counter rotating props and e.g. none of the default MSFS ones, neither the 350i, the B58 or the DA 62 does.

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Its not the physics, its a bug since a few updates ago. Because i still have the same problem if i put the wind on 0. And once i am in the sky it is just going straight.

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This is not dependent on the wind but due to p-factor and torque: Understanding Propeller Torque and P-Factor - FlightGear wiki

Now it can be that the effect has been increased in the latest versions, but in the real world the effect is really mostly seen while starting and landing.

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Just to make sure p-factor etc. doesn’t have an effect during landing (idle).

Crosswind doesn’t have any effect on an aircraft once it is in the air, except for ground track and ground speed, which has nothing to do with aerodynamics, performance or handling.

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Nose/Tail Wheel Bug - planes barely turning when taxi - Bugs & Issues / Aircraft Systems - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums

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Probably not the right place but your how-to-land guide contains a lot of inaccuracies or plain incorrect techniques. On top it seems a lot of it is based on one particular type of aircraft and isn’t necessarily transferable to other aircraft. I have written this how-to in response:

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P-factor has no effect during take-roll for most GA aircraft as the aircraft attitude is more or less level (it may apply to taildraggers), the main propeller effects pulling the aircraft off the runway are slipstream effect and torque, P-factor usually only comes into play during and after rotation.

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I meant the physics of how a single engine prop plane works (I can only answer this one as these are the only aircraft I have flown in real life) nothing to do with the wind. I guess it would’ve helped if you had of mentioned what aircraft you were having trouble with, my bad for guessing it was a single engine.

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Why would you climb at Vx? In case of obstacles after take-off, then sure. But then you would apply full power BEFORE brake release so it seems this is not what you are describing here. Climb-out technique should be depending on the situation, using Vx limits engine cooling and forward visibility, when not necessary for terrain / obstacle clearance its not advisable.

Noise abatement might be a nice side-effect but its not the reason for reducing RPM after take-off. Usually you reduce power (MAP) after take-off to decrease engine wear, as speed increases the propulsive efficiency reduces and a more coarse pitch is required, a constant speed prop partly does this automatically by maintaining prop RPM, reducing the MAP requires a further reduction in RPM to AFM value to maintain efficiency.

This is definitely not done at 50ft! So low to the ground you should focus on flying the aircraft, not on “noise abatement” with the risk of pulling the wrong lever.

Rather at 500 ft or so after flap retraction, reduce MAP to climb power -1 inHg, then reduce RPM to required RPM. As RPM is reduced, MAP will increase slightly (usually by 1 hPa).

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No that works great by me… I captured it on youtube: t7GIQ7k8fXY

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Maybe you can post a link instead.

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@ Nijntje91 => Sorry but I don’t know where you fly. Here in Switzerland where you have a lot of town / construction just around the airfields those are the rules:

  • Vx till you reach a stable speed and at least 50ft
  • Vy afterward
    Why? Because you want to reduce as much as possible the noise for the people around the aifield. Our VFR maps are also containing all the areas which you should avoid to pass over specially during take off landing.

Landing a boing or a small aircraft could be thought as the same (due to the physic laws) is actually again done differently here in Switzerland. And yes I’m a PPL and know pretty well how to fly a small aircraft no clues really about big one.

Again the rules here in Switzerland are by far not the same as in the US, for example we aim at a point BEFORE the runway, where I know that in the US you tend to leave at least 1/3 of the runway. Why? Because our runways tends to be all on the small size if not even just on the limits of the aircrafts. Therefore if you aim differently than before the runway itself you risk to not be able to land safely.

Is that inaccurate or wrong? Well, I see that the rules applies here, and may vary from country to country, why not simply tell us how you learn in your country :wink:

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Not allowed here

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1.I’m surprised. Can you confirm that these ‘rules’ are actually written in the Swiss AIP and apply to all airports/airfields in Switzerland?

2.As a pilot could you please spell Boeing correctly!

3.I don’t understand the second part of your sentence, but concerning the aimpoint, that’s not a rule but basic airmanship when operating short runways around the globe.

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So you have written a how-to for Swiss pilots? Rules, procedures and techniques in Switzerland aren’t any different from other EASA member-states as far as I’m aware.

Of course when there are obstacles/ terrain you perform a short field take-off (full power before brake release) combined with an obstacle climb (Vx). What do you mean with “Vx until you reach a stable speed”? Are you maintaining Vx or not?

If the field length is short you perform a short-field landing, meaning touchdown at the beginning of the runway and apply maximum braking. This does not mean those techniques are standard, you should title your how-to’s how-to perform a short field take-off / landing perhaps.

I can tell you this for sure, for noise pollution, this obstacle climb to 50 ft makes absolutely no difference. Also I was referring to the reduction in RPM at 50 ft, I don’t know who taught you that but that is a completely wrong technique and doesn’t fit with any noise abatement procedures or obstacle climbs.

By not aiming 300 m (not 1/3, its 300 m) from the threshold you risk undershooting the runway, its not a US thing, its world wide. When following the PAPI or ILS glide slope all the way to touchdown, guess where you will end up. A big airliner performing an autoland also ends up 300 m down the runway. Of course see point above if the field length is known to be critical, its again not the standard technique.

Rules, techniques and procedures do not vary from country to country, in Europe most eAIPs describe mostly the same procedures, all member states have adopted part-SERA (same rules of the air), apart from that take-off and landing techniques are not written in any AIP, they are described in the aircraft POH and don’t vary from country to country.

If you look on your landing distance required charts, they are usually from crossing the threshold at 50 ft to a full stop. Crossing threshold at 50 ft equates to 300 m down the runway when following a 3 degree path.

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