Definition
The arrangement of an aircraft's flaps, landing gear, and other configurable surfaces or systems set for the approach and landing phase of flight. This typically means flaps extended (often fully), landing gear down, and power reduced, producing a higher angle of attack and lower airspeed than in cruise.
Plain English
The way the aircraft is set up for landing — flaps out, gear down, slower speed. It's how the airplane looks and behaves when it's getting ready to touch down.
Context Anchor
Seen in stall training when a pilot practices how the aircraft behaves near a stall while set up as it would be during approach or landing.
Derivation
Configuration comes from the Latin configurare, meaning 'to shape together.' In aviation, it refers to how the aircraft is shaped or set up at a given moment — gear, flaps, and other movable parts arranged for a specific phase of flight.
Why Pilots Care
This setup changes how slowly the aircraft can fly before it stalls and affects handling during practice maneuvers or actual landings.
Intuition Check
Do not read “approach” here as only a published instrument approach, and do not read “configuration” as just the airplane’s shape. It means the whole aircraft setup used when getting close to landing or actually landing.
Example Sentence 1
The instructor demonstrated an approach to stall in the landing configuration, with full flaps and gear extended.
Example Sentence 2
Once in the traffic pattern the pilot lowered the flaps and gear to reach approach or landing configuration.