Definition
In helicopter operations, a landing technique in which the helicopter touches down with forward speed and slides along the surface until it stops, used when conditions (such as high density altitude, heavy weight, or partial power loss) prevent a normal hover landing.
Plain English
A helicopter landing where the aircraft is still moving forward when it touches the ground and rolls or slides to a stop, instead of stopping in a hover and setting down vertically.
Context Anchor
Seen in helicopter training when an instructor teaches landing skills in steps, especially when moving from basic control to more advanced landing practice.
Why Pilots Care
Allows safe touchdown and rollout when hover performance is limited by weight, altitude, or temperature.
Intuition Check
“Running” does not mean the engine is running or that someone is running on foot. Here it means the helicopter is still moving forward as it lands.
Example Sentence 1
Because the density altitude was too high to hover out of ground effect, the instructor demonstrated a running landing onto the long, smooth runway.
Example Sentence 2
In high density altitude conditions the instructor used running landings to keep rotor RPM in the green during touchdown.