What Is Runway?
The aeroplane rolls from the moment the run opens and it never stops or turns. One equation drives the whole thing: three metres a second squared at zero speed, fading in a straight line toward nothing at 90 metres a second. Thrust is roughly flat and drag climbs with speed, so the strongest push is at the start. The first two seconds cover 64 metres, and a two-second window at the end of the roll covers 151, which is why the runway behaves like a clock.
Between you and the rotation sit six checks. Each one has a band of speed it wants to be called in, each takes about a second of work, and they have to be called in the order they are listed. The aeroplane will not rotate while the list is open. Call a check out of turn, outside its band, or while another one is still running, and it is a fault at 40 points and six tenths of a second doing nothing. Score accumulates the whole time: 4 points a second, plus 4 more for every check behind you.
How to Play
- Start the roll and read the bar. The runway figure is the surface left in metres, and it falls on every frame from the moment the aeroplane moves.
- Look at the row of chips above the runway. Six checks are listed in the order they have to be called, the live one is the pale chip, and the two numbers under a code are the speed band it wants.
- Find that code on the pad at the bottom of the screen and tap it while the aeroplane is inside the band. The pad is scrambled every run, so TRIM sits somewhere different each time.
- Work down the list in order. Each check takes its own second of work, and calling anything while that work is running is a fault, as is skipping ahead.
- Rotate with the ROTATE button once the list is closed. Below 66 metres a second the tail strikes the runway and the run ends there.
- Raise the gear with the GEAR button between 1.5 and 4 seconds after the wheels leave the ground. The departure then runs for nine more seconds and the run is scored.
Nothing about the list is a race. A check called inside its band is worth full marks whenever you call it, so the cost of a late list turns up in runway rather than in points.
The Six Checks, in the Order They Come
Every band opens at a speed the aeroplane reaches while still on the ground, and the bands overlap on purpose.
- TRIM, 30 to 40 m/s
- The stabiliser is set for the takeoff weight before the aeroplane gets light. This is the one check whose band opens the moment the run does, worth 0.9 seconds of work while the runway is still going by at its slowest.
- FLAP, 42 to 52 m/s
- Takeoff flap gives the wing enough camber to leave the ground at a sane speed. Miss the band and the aeroplane takes the check anyway, then charges you 40 points for the timing.
- PWR, 52 to 62 m/s
- Power verified means both engines are making what the book says they should. It is the longest check on the list at 1.1 seconds, and it lands where the runway is going by at its fastest so far.
- FUEL, 58 to 66 m/s
- Pumps on and feeding from the right tank. This band overlaps the one before it, which means the order of the list is what carries you forward here.
- IAS, 64 to 70 m/s
- Airspeed alive confirms the instruments agree with the aeroplane. By the time its band opens you have covered 1,238 metres of the surface and you are closing on the rotation band faster than any check before it.
- INST, 64 to 80 m/s
- The widest band on the list, because it is the one most likely to be called while the aeroplane is already at rotation speed. At 1.2 seconds it is also the longest, and it usually decides whether you rotate at 72 or at 76.
Why the Runway Is a Clock
Left alone, the aeroplane spends the whole surface in 44.32 seconds and crosses the far threshold doing 76.3 metres a second. It has not stopped accelerating at any point, since the curve only ever aims at 90 and never arrives. A second of hesitation costs more the later it happens: the runway burned in the first ten seconds is 390 metres, and the runway burned in the last ten is 737.
The difference between a tidy list and a sloppy one is measurable. Worked at the opening edge of every band, the list closes at 27.3 seconds with 1,218 metres left at 65.9 metres a second. Worked two metres a second later on each check, it closes at 29.7 seconds with 1,058 metres left. Six small delays are worth 160 metres of runway, about two seconds of roll.
Where the Rotation Pays
Rotation is graded rather than passed. The band runs from 70 to 74 metres a second, and 72 is worth the full 200 points. At either edge the same rotation is worth 150, and a metre outside it, at 71 or 73, it is worth 175. Rotate at 66 and the grade has fallen to 120. Rotate at 76 and it is down to 75, because a rotation that late has eaten runway the departure did not need.
The gear is the same idea in a different unit. Raised between 1.5 and 4 seconds after the wheels leave, it is worth 100 points; outside that window it is worth 30, whether it goes up early or late. Both land on top of a score running since the first frame, which is why a clean departure is worth 1,177 points and a hands-off one is worth 177.
Runway on a Phone
The pad sits across the bottom of the screen with the six checks on it, one button per check, and ROTATE and GEAR on a row beneath. On a narrow screen the six fold into two rows of three, so each button stays wide enough for a thumb to find.
Everything the game asks for is on the screen. The speed tape, the checklist chips and the runway itself are drawn across the full width of the canvas, so the distance left is readable at a glance. Nothing here needs a keyboard, and switching away from the tab pauses the roll for you.