PLT008: Landing Performance
What code PLT008 covers, why the FAA tests it, and how to study Landing Performance before your checkride.
Calculate aircraft performance - landing
What this means for your checkride
Landing performance is the distance to touch down over a 50-foot obstacle plus the ground roll to a stop, read from the POH charts for weight, pressure altitude, temperature, wind, and runway surface and slope. A tailwind, high density altitude, or excess approach speed all lengthen it sharply.
Fitting the landing into the available runway is a preflight calculation, so the FAA tests reading the landing charts and the factors that lengthen the distance.
Pilots plan for the ground roll only. The distance over a 50-foot obstacle is much longer, and carrying extra approach speed adds float that eats runway you assumed you had.
Where to study it
A code on your test report is an area of deficiency. An authorized instructor must review it with you and endorse that review before you take the practical test, and the examiner may revisit it during the oral. Study it until you can explain it out loud, not just recognize the answer.