{"id":47756,"date":"2023-12-21T10:50:38","date_gmt":"2023-12-21T10:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/?p=47756"},"modified":"2025-08-25T14:09:36","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T14:09:36","slug":"landing-gear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/landing-gear\/","title":{"rendered":"Landing Gear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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What do we do with our body position \u2013 legs and feet \u2013 during landing?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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What do we do with our undercarriage (legs and feet) when landing?
Photo: Author Pete Allum by Artem Mitsynskyy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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On their first landings as a student, we often see people auditioning for the role of an action figure, legs hanging low, knees straight and a look of grim determination painted to their faces as they brace for impact. Hopefully this is accompanied by a decent flare and the resultant damage is not too great.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Student landing with great concentration
Photo: Brian Buckland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

History of the PLF<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s look at our landing gear over the ages\u2026 I\u2019m sure that there was a time before the invention of the life-saving PLF (Parachute Landing Fall) but it was so long ago that no-one is alive to tell us about it. The PLF had been taught to airborne forces all over the world as a way to save soldiers as they were dropped either in training or in action, as to lose a soldier due to injury from their transport that was delivering them to the front was considered bad form.  See PLF on Wikipedia<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Wiki says, the technique is a way to distribute the landing shock over the rest of the body rather than focussing all that energy into one body part. The PLF will literally save your ass if you are coming in hard and fast and that\u2019s why this technique is so valuable when you are jumping a round parachute. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hang on\u2026 I know this is where you think you can turn away from this article and go back to scrolling on da \u2018gram, because it’s very unlikely that you will jump a round parachute\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newsflash:<\/span><\/em> If you are coming down hard and fast for whatever reason \u2013 you mis-judged your flare height, you are landing on an obstacle, you have a double malfunction etc \u2013 the PLF will still do a good job of dissipating that initial energy and might still save you.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n


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