Definition
A landing approach flown with the wing flaps extended to their maximum setting, producing the steepest descent path and the lowest practical approach speed for the airplane.
Plain English
An approach flown with the flaps all the way down, which lets the airplane come down at a steeper angle and at a slower speed.
Context Anchor
You’ll see this term during landing training, especially when discussing the final part of the landing and the round out, or flare, just before touchdown.
Why Pilots Care
Reduces landing distance and improves obstacle clearance on final approach, but requires precise speed control to avoid floating or a hard touchdown.
Grounding Statement
Picture the airplane close to the runway with the flaps fully down: it can fly slower, but if you remove too much power too soon, it may settle toward the runway more quickly.
Intuition Check
Full-flap does not mean every landing must use all available flaps. It means the flaps are set to the full approved landing position for that airplane and that landing situation.
Example Sentence 1
On a short runway with no obstacles, the instructor demonstrated a full-flap approach to minimize the landing distance.
Example Sentence 2
On the go-around, the pilot retracted the flaps in stages after establishing a positive climb from the full-flap approach.