The landing approach

On your first high flight the landing field looks small from launch. The last two minutes are where it all comes together: losing height in the right place, lining up and flying a straight final into wind.

The Swiss federation finds that most landing-phase accidents start with a poor or late approach plan, not at touchdown¹. In German data for 2024 the landing phase was the accident hotspot, and on the approach hitting obstacles was the commonest cause². A good approach is a plan made early and flown calmly.

Plan from height

Start planning before you reach the field. On the way, check the windsock and your drift, choose your side of the field and decide where to lose spare height.

Lose height beside or upwind of the field, as your site’s pattern says, never over it. APPI students arrive high and upwind, keep the field at about 45° below them and never put it behind them³. Many sites publish their own pattern and height-loss area: fly it, and ask if in doubt⁴.

The landing pattern

The landing pattern (the “circuit” in the UK) is a standard route around the field that turns your last height into a straight final. Because everyone flies the same shape, you can judge your height against it, and other pilots can predict where you will be.

• The downwind leg runs downwind beside the field, with the field off to one side. The ground slides past fast because the wind is behind you, but your airspeed has not changed, so never brake to slow down⁵. Here you judge your height and drift.
• The base leg is a short leg across the wind at the downwind end, where you fine-tune your height before the last turn. You crab a little into the wind to hold your line⁶.
• The final approach is straight and into wind, hands up, standing in the harness. APPI asks for a final long enough to stand up, gain speed for the wind gradient, adjust with weight shift and time the flare³. The flare lesson covers it.

Figure: One flight from above and as height against time: downwind leg, base leg, then a final turned onto well above the ground. Other variants: a figure-8 approach and a strong-wind approach with no downwind leg. The heights are a modelled example; your instructor sets yours.

Height checkpoints

Your instructor sets the heights for each leg at your site. A few markers hold everywhere:

• Finish every turn high. One manufacturer advises no tight turns below about 30 m100 ft, because the wing has to dive to regain speed; others warn that steep turns near the ground cause a dangerous pendulum swing⁸.
• Never downwind and low. Instructors warn that below about 20 m65 ft on a downwind leg, more on a faster wing, you may be too low to complete a turn into wind⁹. Your instructor’s heights will be well above this.
• Stand up before final. At the latest as the final glide starts¹⁰.

The final turn is the one that goes wrong most often. In Swiss data a poor plan most often ended in a stall or spin from over-steering, and in one fatal training accident a turn with deep brake and little weight shift spun the wing too low to recover⁷. Turn early and gently.

The figure-8 approach and S-turns

The figure-8 approach loses height with beats across the wind, turning into wind at the end of each one: at the downwind end of the field in light wind, at the upwind end in strong wind¹¹¹². Because every turn is made into wind, a turn never carries you further downwind, and at the downwind end each turn brings the field back in front of you.

S-turns are linked turns along the approach line. APPI still teaches an S-approach, and USHPA’s P2 tasks include S-turns as an exercise¹²¹³. But the Swiss federation advises a generous pattern instead, with no S-turns, pendulum swings or over-steering near the ground⁸, and some sites discourage S-turns altogether⁴. If you use them, keep them gentle and high.

The aiming point

Your aiming point is the spot you are gliding towards. The point on the ground that stays still in your view is where your glide will arrive¹⁴. A point that rises in your view is one you will not reach; a point that sinks towards your feet is one you will fly past. That tells you early whether you are heading for an undershoot or an overshoot, while there is still time to adjust.

Look at where you want to go, not at the obstacle you want to miss: pilots tend to fly into what they stare at¹⁵¹⁶. Rising air over dry, bare ground can balloon you past your spot; sinking air over water or woods can put you down short¹⁷.

Adapting to the wind

Into wind your glide over the ground is steeper, and the stronger the wind, the steeper it gets. So in stronger wind the base leg goes closer to the target, and in light wind further out¹¹. In strong wind you can leave out the downwind leg, as the German federation (DHV) does, and one UK school advises arriving from upwind and drifting back into position¹¹.

The wind is also stronger higher up. Over grass, a 20 km/h12 mph wind at 10 m35 ft is about 24 km/h15 mph at 30 m100 ft¹⁸, so height lost downwind of the field can be hard to win back.

Figure: Set the wind and the height of your final turn, then move the turn. In stronger wind the right turn point moves closer in; too far out and you land short, too close and you land long. A simplified model.

If you have been trained in big ears, use them only high up, and let them out so both tips have reopened well before you turn onto final: the tips can take a few seconds¹⁹, and with ears in the stall is closer²⁰. Never fly the final glide or flare with ears in; one manufacturer advises against them on a windy or bumpy approach²¹.

Traffic in the pattern

The lower pilot lands first, but must not use that to cut in front of or overtake someone already on final²². When several pilots are on approach, nobody flies back and forth along the base leg to lose height²³, and everyone looks around before every turn²⁴. The rules by body are in right of way. After landing, clear the field quickly (site etiquette).