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Basic Private Pilot Ground School
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Lesson 1: Your First Flight6 Topics|1 Quiz
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Lesson 2: Maneuvers and the Traffic Pattern6 Topics|1 Quiz
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Lesson 3: Understanding the Wind and Turns6 Topics|1 Quiz
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Lesson 4: AOA, Stalls, and Other Scary Things5 Topics|1 Quiz
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Lesson 5: Ground Reference, Maneuvers, and FARs4 Topics|1 Quiz
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Lesson 6: Building Good Landings5 Topics|1 Quiz
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Lesson 7: The Less Busy Airspace: G, E, D3 Topics|1 Quiz
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Lesson 8: Class A, B, and C Airspace: The Busier Side of the Sky4 Topics|1 Quiz
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Lesson 9: Flying Blind and Performance Calculations4 Topics|1 Quiz
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Lesson 10: Soft and Short Field T.O.'s + Landings4 Topics|1 Quiz
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Lesson 11: Start Your Engines: Engines, Systems, and Instruments6 Topics|1 Quiz
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Lesson 12: Weight and Balance, Navigation Systems4 Topics|1 Quiz
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Lesson 13: Luck with Weather6 Topics|1 Quiz
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Lesson 14: Your First SOLO!2 Topics|1 Quiz
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Lesson 15: VFR Charts and Navigation5 Topics|1 Quiz
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Lesson 16: Weather Charts and Services6 Topics|1 Quiz
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Lesson 17: Aeromedical Factors, ADM, FARS5 Topics|1 Quiz
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Lesson 18: Flying at Night3 Topics|1 Quiz
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Lesson 19: Cross Country Flight Planning4 Topics|1 Quiz
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Lesson 20: Test Prep5 Topics|2 Quizzes
Lesson 10,
Topic 1
In Progress
Short Field Takeoff
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Short Field Takeoff
The purpose of a short field takeoff is to get the airplane off the ground and high enough to clear a 50′ obstacle in the shortest distance required. Now not all obstacles are created equally (and not all are 50′ tall), however you will commonly hear this 50′ height used in aviation performance charts and on your written exam. Play along with us and let’s just assume for our purposes that all the obstacles we’ll be dealing with here are 50′ tall.
The video above details the proper procedure for doing a short field takeoff. A few things you will want to keep in mind are:
- Use ALL the available runway, don’t start your takeoff 75′ down the runway after getting lined up. Line up on the earliest part of the runway you can to have maximum takeoff performance.
- Apply full power before releasing the brakes. This is twofold, one, you want to have the engine spooled up producing thrust right when you release the brakes and start eating up valuable runway distance. Two, you want to ensure the engine is producing full power and operating properly before you try to take off on a very short runway with an obstacle ahead of you.
- Check your instruments before releasing the brakes (oil temp, oil pressure, static engine RPM, etc.)
- Use the appropriate flap setting for takeoff according to your POH
- Follow the procedure for a short field takeoff exactly as it is written in your POH, the default procedure for many airplanes is:
- Apply full power, release brakes
- Do not use any back pressure or induce any drag until rotate speed
- Rotate at Vr, Climb out at Vx until clearing your obstacle, then accelerate to Vy, then begin retracting your flaps.
- Do not retract the flaps too soon!
BE AWARE OF GROUND EFFECT!