Easyjet A320 (G-EZUI) flaring Bristol 22

The landing flare, also referred to as the round out, is a maneuver or stage during the

landing Landing is the last part of a flight, where a flying animal, aircraft, or spacecraft returns to the ground. When the flying object returns to water, the process is called alighting, although it is commonly called "landing", "touchdown" or ...

of an aircraft. The flare follows the final approach phase and precedes the touchdown and roll-out phases of landing. In the flare, the nose of the plane is raised, slowing the descent rate and therefore creating a softer touchdown, and the proper

attitude Attitude may refer to: Philosophy and psychology * Attitude (psychology), an individual's predisposed state of mind regarding a value * Metaphysics of presence * Propositional attitude, a relational mental state connecting a person to a prop ...

is set for touchdown. In the case of tailwheel landing gear-equipped aircraft, the attitude is set for touchdown on the main (front) landing gear first. In the case of

tricycle gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle g ...

-equipped aircraft, the attitude is set for touchdown on the main (rear) landing gear. In the case of

monowheel gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Mart ...

-equipped gliders, the flare consists only of leveling the aircraft. In

parachuting Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or parachutes. Fo ...

, the flare is the part of the parachute landing fall preceding ground contact and is executed about above ground. During a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribut ...

landing, a flare is used for reducing both vertical and horizontal speed thus allowing a near zero-speed touchdown.

References

External links

''The Effect of Synthetic Vision Enhancements on Landing Flare Performance''
{{Authority control Types of take-off and landing