Is it possible to calculate the distance to climb to 1000 Ft in Cessna 172S?
The POH published ground roll is 960 feet. (Performance Specifications, cover page)

The rate of climb from Sea Level is 730 Feet Per Minute, which is 82 seconds to climb to 1000 feet. (Section 5-18, Time, Fuel and Distance to Climb)

During that 82 seconds, the plane will have a airspeed of 74 kts, or 85 MPH, or 1.419 miles per minute.

So in 82 seconds, covering 1.419 miles per minute, the plane will cover 1.93 miles.

1.93 miles of climb, + 960 feet of ground roll = 11,200 feet, or 2.12 miles.



The last column of the table in Section 5-18 is "Distance in NM from Sea Level", which says that the distance it takes to climb from Sea Level to 1000 feet is 2 NM.

2 NM is 2.3 statute miles, which is pretty darn close to my calculation of 2.12 miles (difference of 950 feet).  So the answer cross-checks nicely.

From start of takeoff roll to 1000 feet MSL, you can expect about 2.1 - 2.3 miles, not counting headwind and temperature factors.



I re did the calculations, accounting for a 20 kt headwind. (I think that is the maximum that most Cessna students would take off in), and that shortened the distance to 1.5 miles.


  With max headwind: 1.5 miles
  With no wind: 2.3 miles.


I think that covers your range pretty well.