Focus in the Flare

Stephen Pope

Tuesday, March 05, 2013 at 10:42 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

During the roundout and flare, pilots should maintain a straight-ahead gaze, dynamically alternating visual focus between just over the airplane's nose and the desired touchdown zone.
As airspeed decays, the visual focus point must progressively shorten to accurately judge height, while peripheral vision helps detect lateral drift.
Incorrect visual focus—either too close (causing a high flare and hard landing) or too far ahead (leading to poor height judgment and flying into the ground)—can result in imprecise or rough landings.
Mastering this progressive adjustment of visual focus is crucial for achieving smooth, controlled landings.

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As you start the roundout on final approach and begin to flare, visual cues become extremely important. Where exactly should you be looking as you bring the control wheel back and prepare to place the wheels just where you want them on the pavement (or the grass, if you’re really lucky)?

To give you a wider scope of vision and a better feel for your height above the ground and your movement over the surface, your head should be pointing straight ahead and your visual focus should alternate from a point just over the airplane’s nose to the desired touchdown zone and back again.