Where the points are
The First Flight lesson at Jeju is also an exam. Its 19 steps are grouped into six courses, and the examiner checks 20 items worth one point each. The points are not spread evenly, and that shapes how you should fly it:
- Preflight: 1 point (start the engine).
- Taxi: 5 points (release the brake and roll, taxi speed, staying on the taxi line, stopping at the hold-short line, takeoff flaps 10°).
- Takeoff: 4 points (line-up, full power, rotating only with speed, no tail strike).
- Climb & level: 4 points (climb speed, no stall warning, flaps up, level off at 1,500 ft).
- Turn & approach: 4 points (bank limit, turn to 240°, glide path, approach speed).
- Landing: 2 points (touch down on the runway, touch down without a hard landing).
Pass marks, and what each item really checks
14 points passes. The wings tier comes from the score: 14–15 is bronze, 16–18 silver, 19–20 gold. Only your best wings are kept, in this browser, and the result screen can save them as an image. Ten of the 20 points are decided before the wheels leave the ground, so a careful taxi buys a lot of room for a shaky landing.
The examiner uses three kinds of item. An achieve item passes the moment it happens once (engine running, flaps at 10°) or when you finish its step (line-up, hold short, level-off, the turn to 240°). An avoid item starts as a pass and fails only if the mistake lasts longer than a set time. A ratio item measures the share of time you stayed inside a band during a particular step. The checklist labels are rounded for reading; the numbers below are the ones the code uses.
Preflight and taxi: six points on the ground
The four preflight cards advance with Enter. Engine start (I, or the Engine button on touch) is the only scored item; the engine catches after about two seconds and should settle at 700–800 RPM. Releasing the parking brake (P) counts as soon as you are rolling faster than 2 kt.
Taxi speed fails only if you stay above 22 kt for more than two seconds, but the lesson itself asks for around 10 kt, and the instructor’s Too fast! warning appears at 20 kt. The taxi line fails if you are more than 35 m from the green route for over four seconds; the off-route warning comes at 25 m. Steering is the nose wheel on Q/E, which turns only 20°, and the only brakes are on the main wheels.
The hold-short step finishes when you are stopped (under 1.5 kt) within 30 m of the line. The Cessna has no reverse, so start closing the throttle when the Hold-short line is close warning shows up within 60 m. Flaps 10° is one press of F; a second press gives 20°, and V takes it back.
Takeoff: four points in about a minute
Line-up passes when you are on runway 07 within 12 m of the centerline, pointing within 12° of 059°, below 4 kt, for one second. Full power means the throttle above 95% while on the runway, so use Shift+W rather than tapping W.
As speed builds, the propeller’s torque and slipstream pull the nose left; a light touch of E keeps you straight. The rotate item fails if the nose is above 8° while you are still on the ground below 45 kt for half a second. The real target is 55 kt, and the instructor counts the speed up for you until then.
The tail tie-down touches the runway at about 13° nose-up. A slow touch only scrapes, but any scrape fails No tail strike at once, and a fast one is a crash. Aim for about 10°: the instructor warns when the nose passes 10° on the ground.
Climb and level-off
The climb step runs from lift-off to 500 ft above the ground. Climb speed is graded only there: you need 60–92 kt for at least 60% of that time. The instructor asks for 74 kt (the best rate of climb) and complains below 65 or above 85, so following the voice keeps you well inside the graded band. Speed is controlled with pitch: too fast, raise the nose; too slow, lower it.
No stall warning covers the whole course and fails after 1.5 seconds of warning horn. The wing stalls at about 16° angle of attack; at the sound, lower the nose. Flaps up counts any time you are airborne with the flap lever at 0.
Level-off finishes when you have held within 300 ft of 1,500 ft with a vertical speed under 400 ft/min for three seconds. Reduce to about 2,300 RPM, then press T for auto-trim so the airplane holds the attitude on its own.
Turn and approach: the course that decides silver
The turn step ends when your heading is within 15° of 240° and your wings are within 15° of level. Bank about 20°. The bank item fails after more than two seconds beyond 40°, and it is watched for the rest of the course, including the final approach.
Next, the pink arrow points to the base turn point: 5 km out on the runway’s extended centerline, offset 1 km to the side, so a single left turn lines you up. On the way the lesson asks for about 1,700 RPM, a slow descent to 1,200 ft, and flaps 10° once you are below 85 kt.
The final step begins within 1.5 km of that point, and both ratio items are measured only during it. The glide path item needs you within 220 ft of the 3° path for half the time; the path aims at a spot 300 m past the threshold, and two white and two red PAPI lights mean you are on it. The approach speed item needs 88 kt or less for 70% of the time. Arriving fast is the usual way to lose it, so slow down before the final fix.
Landing: two points and a hard ceiling
The flare step starts below 40 ft, no further than 400 m short of the threshold. Close the throttle (Shift+S) and raise the nose gently. The aircraft grades each touchdown by sink rate:
- Up to about 295 ft/min: smooth.
- Up to about 492 ft/min: firm, which still earns Touch down gently.
- Above 492 ft/min: hard, which loses that point.
- Above about 748 ft/min: a crash (hard landing).
- Touching down slower than about 60 ft/min still counts as a smooth touchdown after more than a second in the air.
After a crash or a skip
A crash closes the current course. Anything you have already achieved in it keeps its point, but every other item in that course, including avoid items that were still passing, scores zero. After 2.5 seconds the lesson restarts you at the start of the next course: taxi from the parking spot with the brake set; takeoff 40 m down the runway with flaps 10°; climb 150 m above the field at 75 kt on full power; turn and approach at 1,500 ft and 95 kt, 3 km past the runway end; landing 700 m before the threshold on the 3° path at 65 kt with flaps 30°. A crash in the landing course ends the lesson and scores it.
If a course runs long, a Skip offer appears with an Enter key: after 5 minutes in preflight, 6 in taxi, 4 in takeoff, 5 in climb, 8 in turn and approach, and 3 in landing. Skipping zeroes the items you have not yet achieved; in the landing course it goes straight to the score.
Mistakes that cost points
- Reading Keep taxi speed around 20 kt as a target. The lesson asks for about 10 kt, and 22 kt held for two seconds fails.
- Rolling past the hold-short line. The step needs you stopped within 30 m of it.
- Tapping W on the takeoff roll. Full power has to pass 95% on the runway.
- Pulling before 45 kt, or pulling past 13° on the ground.
- Reaching the final approach at cruise speed. Approach speed is judged only on final, from its first second.
- Steep turns. More than 40° for two seconds anywhere in the pattern loses the bank point.
After the wings: alone or with friends
Flight training has three ring courses north of Jeju; each has eight rings, and you need at least six inside the time limit (240, 270 and 210 seconds) to open the next. For the approach and flare, the Landing challenge starts you on a 3° final and scores every touchdown.
With friends, Fly with friends makes a room for up to 8 pilots with a 4-character code and invite link; Launch together starts everyone on the runway or in the air at the same airport, time and weather, and aircraft cannot collide. Since 2026-10-15 rooms no longer need a sign-in: guests fly under a name like Guest 1234, and only the logbook asks you to sign in. The check ride and its wings are always your own, kept in your browser.
Play it yourself
