Phases of Flight Explained, From Gate to Gate

Every flight, from a 20-minute hop to a 14-hour long-haul, follows the same basic sequence. The aircraft leaves the gate, taxis out, takes off, climbs, cruises, descends, approaches, lands and taxis back to a gate. These stages are the phases of flight, sometimes called flight stages.

The Phases of Flight in Order

Sources split these differently. A simple model has five phases (takeoff, climb, cruise, descent, landing), and longer lists add ground phases such as taxi and split approach from landing. Flight tracking software can use more, because it needs to tell pushback from taxi and taxi-in from arrival to log the flight accurately. The sequence is the same; only the detail changes.

What Happens in Each Phase

Boarding and pushback

At the gate, the crew loads the flight plan, fuel and passengers. Pushback moves the aircraft backwards off the stand, and engines are usually started during or after the push.

Taxi

The aircraft follows its taxi route to the holding point of the departure runway. Speeds are low (under about 30 knots) and the main workload is following the route and completing the before-takeoff checks.

Takeoff

On the runway, the crew sets takeoff power and accelerates. At rotation speed the nose comes up and the aircraft lifts off. Takeoff ends once the aircraft is safely airborne and climbing.

Climb

The gear comes up, flaps retract in stages as speed builds, and the aircraft climbs to cruise altitude. The climb rate falls as the aircraft gets higher, and the phase ends at the top of climb.

Cruise

Cruise is the longest phase on most flights. The aircraft holds a set altitude and speed, and the crew monitors fuel, weather and the route. On longer flights the aircraft may step climb to a higher altitude as it burns fuel and gets lighter.

Descent

At the top of descent the aircraft starts down towards the destination. Pilots plan this point so the aircraft arrives at the right height and speed for the approach without having to level off repeatedly or dive late.

Approach and final

The approach is the arrival into the destination area, slowing down and configuring for landing. Final approach is the last stretch, lined up with the runway, gear down and landing flaps set, descending on a steady path of about 3 degrees.

Landing and rollout

The pilot flares to soften the touchdown, the main wheels touch, and the aircraft slows down the runway with spoilers, brakes and often reverse thrust. How hard the wheels meet the runway is the landing rate.

Taxi-in, arrival and deboarding

The aircraft vacates the runway and taxis to its gate. Once it stops and the engines shut down, passengers deboard and the flight is complete.

Special Phases: When the Script Changes

Not every flight runs gate to gate. Three special cases are worth knowing:

• Rejected takeoff. The takeoff is abandoned during the roll and the aircraft stops on the runway.
• Go-around. On approach or at the last moment before touchdown, the pilot applies power and climbs away instead of landing, then sets up for another approach.
• Touch-and-go. The aircraft lands and takes off again without stopping, used in training circuits.

Which Phases Are the Busiest

Real airlines treat takeoff, initial climb, approach and landing as the critical phases. Those are the phases with the most to do, the least height and time to fix a problem, and the most configuration changes. Cruise is the quietest part of most flights.

In the sim, we'd focus your practice on the approach and landing, where a virtual airline (VA) landing score is decided.

How Flight Sim Software Detects Phases

In a simulator, nobody tells the software which phase you are in. An ACARS client works it out from the data the simulator reports: whether you are on the ground, your ground speed, vertical speed, altitude, height above the ground, engine power and distance to the destination.

Here is how Stratos detects each phase:

Stratos samples flight data about twice a second and decides on trends over a rolling five-second window rather than single readings, so a one-frame glitch doesn't flip the phase. Leaving cruise takes a sustained climb or descent and at least 300 feet of altitude change, so turbulence doesn't knock you out of it. It also handles go-arounds, rejected takeoffs, touch-and-gos and tracking that starts mid-air.

Why Phases Matter in a Virtual Airline

For a VA, the phase is more than a label on the screen:

• Flight times come from phase boundaries. Block time starts when you first move and ends when you park; air time runs from takeoff to landing. Read block time vs flight time for the difference, and OOOI times for the four timestamps behind them.
• Event rules key off phases. A VA can set rules that fire when a flight reaches a phase, such as logging a message at takeoff or on landing.
• Position reports carry the phase. Every report sent to the VA during the flight includes the current phase, so the live map and the PIREP show where each flight is.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the 5 phases of flight?

In the simplest model they are takeoff, climb, cruise, descent and landing. More detailed lists add the ground phases (pushback, taxi, taxi-in) and split approach from landing.

What is the longest phase of flight?

Cruise, on almost every flight longer than a short hop. On very short sectors the aircraft may spend only a few minutes level before starting down.

What is the difference between approach and final approach?

Approach covers the whole arrival into the destination area. Final approach is the last segment, lined up with the runway and configured to land.

Does every flight go through every phase?

No. A short flight might skip a real cruise, a go-around adds a second approach, and a helicopter has no takeoff roll. Good tracking software handles these cases rather than assuming a perfect sequence.

Where Stratos Fits

Stratos detects all of these phases automatically from your simulator's data, in Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS), X-Plane, FSX and Prepar3D, with no flight plan needed. A VA can use the phase for event rules, per-phase position report fields and block or air time. The flight phases guide documents every phase and threshold.