Definition
Landings performed without the use of wing flaps, requiring a higher approach speed, a flatter approach angle, and a longer landing roll than a normal flap-extended landing. Practiced as an emergency or abnormal procedure to prepare pilots for situations where flaps are unavailable, such as a flap system failure or asymmetric flap deployment.
Plain English
A landing where the pilot does not lower the flaps. The aircraft comes in faster and flatter, and uses more runway to stop. Pilots practice this so they can handle it if the flaps ever fail.
Context Anchor
You will encounter no-flap landings in flight training, checkride preparation, and abnormal situations where the flap system does not work or should not be used.
Derivation
Flap comes from an older word meaning something that hangs or moves back and forth. On an airplane, flaps are movable panels on the wing. No-flap simply means those panels are not lowered for the landing.
Why Pilots Care
Flap failures occur in real operations; practicing these landings builds the judgment needed to select suitable runways and maintain safe margins.
Grounding Statement
With the flaps up, the airplane has less help slowing down, so the landing must be planned with extra speed and runway in mind.
Intuition Check
Do not assume a no-flap landing is just a normal landing with one checklist item skipped. Leaving the flaps up changes the airplane’s speed, descent, runway need, and landing feel.
Example Sentence 1
During the lesson, the instructor pulled the flap circuit breaker so the student could practice no-flap landings.
Example Sentence 2
Students practice no-flap landings to prepare for situations where extending the flaps is not an option.