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The forces acting on an aircraft during landing are the same as those during any other phase of flight: thrust, drag, lift, and weight. During the approach phase, if the aircraft descends at a constant rate and speed (ie acceleration in any axis is zero) then all the forces must be balanced (thrust = drag, lift = weight).

During the flare (the instant the airplane is pulled up slightly, usually about 2 to 5 feet above the runway) the angle of attack is increased. This in turn causes an increase in lift and drag. Since no power is added (thrust is still constant) the airplane will slow down. The decreasing airspeed will cause the lift to decrease.

This transition and changes in force balance happen simultaneously and (in a good landing) smoothly. The increase in lift is just enough to slow the rate of descent (from perhaps 500 ft/min from the approach phase to 50 to 100 ft/min during flare). This leads to a soft touch down at a decreasing airspeed.

If the airplane comes in too fast, the pull up during the flare will cause much more lift than needed for a good flare causing the airplane to stop descending and actually gain altitude (ie aka "ballooning"). If the airplane is coming in too slow the pull up will result in some lift, but the reduction in airspeed from an already slow airplane could lead to a partial or full stall. This happens due to an excessive angle of attack (pulling up at low airspeeds causes this). As the airplane stalls it will rapidly loose lift, resulting in a hard (potentially dangerous) landing.

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