Definition
A guidance function provided by an automatic landing system that commands the aircraft's pitch attitude during the final few seconds before touchdown, smoothly raising the nose to reduce the descent rate from the approach glidepath to a gentle rate suitable for touchdown.
Plain English
It is the part of an autoland system that handles the gentle nose-up movement just before the wheels touch the runway, so the airplane lands smoothly instead of slamming down at the approach descent rate.
Context Anchor
Seen in precision landing and automatic landing system discussions, especially when describing the final seconds before touchdown.
Derivation
Flare comes from the idea of something spreading or opening outward; in aviation it describes the curved path the aircraft follows as the descent flattens out near the runway. Guidance simply means commands or steering instructions. Together: the system that steers the aircraft through the flare.
Why Pilots Care
Promotes consistent touchdown points and reduces the chance of hard landings, bounces, or runway excursions.
Grounding Statement
Picture the aircraft on final approach: flare guidance helps it stop descending at the approach rate and settle onto the runway smoothly.
Intuition Check
Do not read “flare” here as a bright light or emergency signal. In this term, “flare” means the final landing action that reduces descent just before touchdown.
Example Sentence 1
The crew briefed that flare guidance would engage automatically below 50 feet during the autoland.
Example Sentence 2
Autoland mode engaged flare guidance to set the correct pitch for touchdown on the runway centerline.