Definition
Repeated takeoff and landing exercises flown during flight training to build and refine the skills required to safely arrive on the runway under varying conditions, including normal, crosswind, short-field, soft-field, and power-off approaches.
Plain English
Doing landings over and over during training so the student gets steadily better at putting the airplane on the runway in different situations.
Context Anchor
You encounter this term during flight training when an instructor has a student repeat landings at an airport to build skill and judgment.
Why Pilots Care
These sessions build the muscle memory and judgment needed for safe solo landings and reduce the risk of landing accidents.
Analogy
Like a basketball player shooting free throws over and over to improve accuracy under pressure.
Intuition Check
Do not think of practice landings as casual repetition. In training, each practice landing should have a clear purpose, be flown safely, and be reviewed for what improved and what still needs work.
Example Sentence 1
The instructor planned a session of practice landings to expose the student to gusty crosswinds before signing them off for solo.
Example Sentence 2
Before the checkride, the student scheduled an extra hour of practice landings to sharpen their short-field technique.