Before your first flight from the training hill, your instructor walks you round the landing field. It can feel like a stroll. It is one of the most important lessons of the day: most landing accidents begin with a poor or late plan, not at touchdown1. On the approach, the commonest accident in the DHV’s 2024 data was hitting an obstacle: vehicles, trees, walls, fences, masts and power lines2.
You assess a landing field (LZ) twice: on the ground before you launch, and again from the air before you commit.
Read the wind at the field
The wind in the landing field can differ from the wind on launch. USHPA teaches its P2 (Novice) pilots to expect a different direction at the landing field, and to read indicators other than the windsock when landing3. Read the wind where you will land, from more than one indicator.
| Indicator | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Direction and a rough strength. A standard airport sock is horizontal from about 28 km/h17 mph; site socks vary4 | |
| Direction, moment to moment: every puff and shift | |
| Trees | Leaves and twigs always moving means about 12–19 km/h7–12 mph; small branches moving, about 20–28 km/h12–17 mph5 |
| Smoke | Rising straight up in calm air, drifting in a light wind5; lying flat is a danger sign6 |
| Water | Ripples and wavelets; white horses from about 20 km/h12 mph, a USHPA danger sign76 |
The
Figure: The same light wind, about 15 km/h (9 mph), from the right, read five ways. Every indicator points downwind. When one disagrees, ask why: it may be sheltered, or in rotor behind an obstacle.
If the indicators disagree, the odd one out may be sheltered, or sitting in
Size, slope and surface
Bigger is better. For early flights, SafePro wants a landing field that is large and easy to reach with height to spare10. Choose a touchdown area with room in front of it for a long
Flat is better. Landing on slopes is an advanced skill11; as a student, choose level ground and land into wind12.
Look at the surface. Short grass is ideal. Prefer a field empty of livestock and away from farm buildings, and if you ever land in an uncut hay meadow, bunch your wing and trample as little as possible13. Wet sand and anywhere near surf are never landing fields14.
Obstacles
Walk the edges first: that is where hazards hide.
Safety-critical Power lines
Touching a power line is likely to be fatal, so the only plan is never to get near one. Search every field for cables, including the hard-to-see ones; assume every road has power lines, and treat any straight line you see across a field from the air as a fence, a ditch or a cable until you know which. Never approach or turn low over cables, double or treble your margins near them, point them out to other pilots, and turn away early if there is any chance of meeting one15. If contact can’t be avoided, see Trees, water and power lines.
Trees and buildings. The wind breaks into eddies behind them, more in stronger wind16. Sources put the turbulent zone at about 10 to 20 obstacle heights downwind, and further in strong wind17, so never plan your touchdown just downwind of a tree line or a barn. Don’t push it right up to the field’s downwind edge either, because that means crossing its hedge, fence or wires low; if a field can’t give you both, choose another. A gap in a tree line sends a jet of stronger wind across the field18. How far does it reach? compares the sources.
Vehicles, fences and ditches. Vehicles were the commonest obstacle hit on the approach in the DHV’s 2024 data, ahead of trees2. Lines across a field can be fences, ditches or power lines15.
Water. Rivers, ponds and the sea are deadly to land in19. Plan your approach well clear of them.
Figure: A field seen from above, wind from the top. Spot each hazard before you read its label: the poles along the road under the final approach, the turbulence behind the trees, the stream, the van and the cattle. The open grass is your touchdown area.
In the air, look where you want to go, not at the obstacle: pilots tend to fly into what they stare at20.
Choose an alternative
Before you launch, pick an alternative field you could reach, and assess it the same way. On the ground you have time to look; in the air you won’t. If your radio fails, APPI’s rule is to forget accuracy, choose the widest place free of obstacles and land into wind21. Airmanship shows how to keep both fields within reach.
Check again from the air
Wind, traffic and the field itself all change while you fly. Arrive high, upwind and to the side of the field, and look again before you commit22. The landing approach shows how to set this up.
The second look, from the air
Arrive high and upwind, to the side of the field.
Cue The field ahead and below you at an angle, never right under you.
Why APPI students never fly over the field during the approach, or put it behind them22.
Read the wind again.
Cue The sock, streamers, smoke or water. Has anything swung round?
Why The wind at the field can differ from launch, and both change3.
Check the traffic and the field.
Cue Pilots on the approach or still on the field; people, animals or vehicles that have arrived.
Why The lower pilot lands first, and nobody should be ground handling on the field during landings23.
Confirm your touchdown area and the line to it.
Cue Open grass with room ahead, and obstacles outside your path.
Why Keep obstacles out of your path from the start, rather than turning low to avoid them22.
Commit, or switch to the alternative while you are still high.
Cue Your final will be straight and into wind.
Why Over-steering low down to fix a bad plan is the commonest way approaches end in accidents24.
Common mistake Not looking for the wires
- Symptom
- On final you suddenly see poles on either side of your path.
- Cause
- You checked the grass, not the edges, and expected cables to be easy to see.
- Fix
- Walk the edges, follow every road and line of poles, and point the cables out to others15.
Common mistake Choosing the spot for convenience
- Symptom
- You aim for the corner by the gate, just behind the hedge, and meet sink and bumps on final.
- Cause
- You picked the touchdown area by the walk to the car, not by wind and obstacles.
- Fix
- Choose open grass, well clear of every wake17.
Common mistake Committing on an old reading
- Symptom
- The sock has swung round since launch, and you land crosswind or downwind.
- Cause
- You read the wind once, on the ground.
- Fix
- Read it again from the air before you commit, and land into the wind you see then12.
Instructor's note A field changes through the day
The field you walked in the morning behaves differently in the afternoon. Dry ground can balloon you past your spot and woods or water can put you down short25, and a sea-breeze front can swing the wind round26. Farmers move animals, cut hay and park machinery. Look again every time, not just on your first day.
Standards differ The landing field in early training
Common ground: Every system lands into wind12. APPI spells out the second look from the air22.
- USHPA (USA)
- P2 (Novice) pilots keep visual contact with the landing field27. Ground school teaches that lines across a field mean fences, ditches or power lines, and to assume every road has power lines15.
- BHPA (UK)
- Schools must have a windsock in the landing field whenever students are under instruction9. When landing, the lowest pilot has right of way but must not cut in front of one on final; clear the field quickly28.
- APPI (international)
- Arrive high and upwind, never fly over the field during the approach, and keep obstacles out of your path. If the radio fails, take the widest place free of obstacles and land into wind2221.
- FAI/CIVL SafePro (international reference)
- For early flights the landing field must be large and easy to reach with height to spare. If it can’t be seen from launch, a second instructor waits there with two-way communication10.
Summarised from each body’s published material, which changes over time. Check the current official documents and follow your school.
Questions students ask
How big does a landing field need to be?
No single figure fits every wing and wind. Bigger is safer, and SafePro asks for a large field you can reach with height to spare10. Your instructor judges each field.
The windsock and the trees disagree. Which do I believe?
Neither, yet. Ask why. The sock may be sheltered or in rotor3. Look at more indicators, and land into the wind you see near your touchdown area.
What if there is no windsock at the alternative field?
Use trees, smoke, water and crops, and watch your own drift on the way down3.
Key points
- Assess the field twice: on the ground before launch, and from the air before you commit.
- Read the wind where you will land, from several indicators. Launch and landing winds can differ.
- Big, flat, open and smooth beats small, sloping or rough. Plan a touchdown area with room in front.
- Power lines first: find every pole and cable, and treat lines across fields as hazards.
- Keep well clear of the turbulence downwind of trees and buildings, and of water.
- Choose an alternative before you launch, and switch to it early.