Round-out, flare, and touchdown on a normal landing

The flare (also round-out): slow, continuous transition from glide attitude to landing attitude.

• Start 15 to 30 ft above ground.
• Keep increasing as altitude is lost, right through to touchdown.

Touchdown and after touchdown, by gear:

• Tricycle: lower nose wheel sooner only if directional control gets difficult, or in gusty or turbulent air (stops aircraft skipping or lifting off again).
• Tricycle: nose wheel settles on its own as elevator loses effectiveness. Don't hold it up with excess speed.

Keep one hand on throttle through landing: bounce needs instant power correction.

Vision:

• Primary sense here; sense of motion not developed enough to help much.
• Focus ahead of aircraft, about same distance as in a car at same speed. Closer as speed drops.
• Focus too close, or straight down: reactions abrupt or late.

Cues for judging flare point:

• Height above surface, using known objects.
• Point ground seems to rush up.
• Point whole landing surface seems to expand.
• Point ground movement suddenly becomes apparent.

Height judgement in round-out:

• Normally uses apparent speed, ground texture, size of known objects.
• Over water, snow, or in darkness those cues disappear. Judgement narrows to what is left, such as runway width alone.

Once flare has started:

• Don't push forward to fix over-controlled backward movement. Relax back pressure or hold it constant. Add a touch of throttle if speed bleeds off.
• Within 2 to 3 ft of ground: check descent with further back pressure. Close to stall, so it doesn't add height; it slows the settle for a gentle touchdown.
• Judge touchdown by aircraft's change in attitude, against landing horizon (aerodrome edge) and nose, not control column movement: as speed drops, same movement does less.

Trap: treating touchdown as the end of the job. Judging attitude and holding correct back pressure continue through the rollout, not just to the moment wheels touch.

Practice