The landing maneuver begins either when the model commences to flare at the end of a traffic pattern or, if no traffic pattern is performed, when the model is at an altitude of about 10 feet.
There shall be no requirement to touch down in a marked circle, but for maximum points, the model should land approximately opposite the judges. An aircraft with a conventional gear (tail wheel) may make a three point landing or may touch the main wheels first and gently lower tail wheel as the speed decreases. An aircraft with a tricycle gear should land on the main gear first & gently lower the nose wheel during roll out.
There may be exceptions to landing scoring depending on physical layout of the runway. Coming to a complete stop is not necessary on short runways. If aircraft were to nose over due to rough surface beyond runway, this should not cause a down grade of score. For waver to be in effect, the model must make surface contact on
first half of the runway.
Faults:
- Manuever does not commence on base leg.
- Turn onto final approach not constant rate or not 90°.
- Descent from base leg not smooth and continuous.
- Model aircraft does not achieve correct landing approach prior to touchdown.
- Model aircraft does not round out smoothly.
- Model aircraft bounces.
- Drops a wing during landing.
- Touches wing tip on ground.
- Does not come to a gradual and smooth stop after landing.
- Does not adopt landing attitude appropriate to subject type.
- Model aircraft runs erratically or turns after landing.
- Model aircraft noses over (note 2 points penalty if only nose-down; zero if it over-turns).
Note: A crash landing scores zero points, but if the model aircraft makes a good landing and then stops nose down towards the end of the landing run, the landing marks that would have been otherwise awarded should be reduced by 2 points.
If the nose down situation is solely the result of the model aircraft running off the prepared area, because this is too short for the particular wind direction, the above down marking will not apply.
Model aircraft with retractable landing gears, landing with one or more gears retracted should have the landing points reduced by 30%. All landings ending with the model aircraft on its back will be considered a crash landing.