Not falling but flying: how your parachute works as a wing and how the flare makes your landing soft — and why nearly all injuries in the sport happen right here.
The honest answer to "how do you land softly without hurting yourself?": your parachute is no braking sack but a real wing — and the landing is no impact but a controlled glide-out. The modern sport parachute is a ram-air canopy: air flows into the cells, forms an aerofoil and creates real lift and steerability. Just before the ground you pull both brakes, the so-called flare — the canopy catches you and you touch down softly, often with just a few steps.
Why this matters: almost all injuries in the sport happen here, during canopy flight and landing — nearly 88 %. And by far the most common single cause is a mistimed flare. The freefall everyone fears is harmless; the moment that decides a clean landing is the final metres. That's exactly why so much training goes in here.
On a tandem you need almost no skill for the landing — still, it helps to understand the principle: Firm, closed shoes for secure ground contact. The knowledge that the canopy is a wing, not a parachute in the literal sense. The readiness to lift your legs on command on a tandem. For aspiring solo jumpers: patience — approach and flare are pure practice from training.
### 1. How the parachute becomes a wing Once the ram-air canopy is open, its cells fill with ram pressure and form an aerofoil — like a paraglider. The thing glides forward and can be steered precisely. You no longer fall, you fly across the landscape with controlled descent.
### 2. How you steer You steer with two control lines with handles, the toggles. Pull one side and you turn that way; pull both evenly and the canopy slows. This is how you fly your landing pattern — a planned approach curve that brings you cleanly into wind onto the landing area.
### 3. What happens in the flare Just above the ground you pull both brakes down deep. This increases the canopy's angle of attack, lift briefly rises, and descent and forward speed drop — and in exactly that moment you touch down softly. Timing is everything: pull too early and you rise briefly then sink through; pull too late and you're still too fast. That's why "incorrect flare" is the most common landing-injury cause.
### 4. The standing landing (and the fallback option) With a clean flare the standing landing is standard — you slide or step out. For hard landings (too high a descent or forward rate) there's the parachute landing fall (PLF) as a fallback technique: landing with slightly bent joints and rolling to spread the energy and above all protect the ankles. You learn this in training — on a tandem the master handles it.
Canopy flight and landing are the most safety-critical part of the jump, and precisely for that reason they belong entirely in certified training. This website explains why the canopy flies and how the flare works — but approach, timing and landing technique you practise exclusively at a dropzone under supervision. Aggressive landing approaches (low turns) are a leading accident cause and an absolute taboo for beginners. On a tandem your master carries full responsibility for the landing.
If you want a highlight on your tandem: ask your master whether you can briefly steer under the canopy yourself. Many let you pull the toggles so you feel how directly the canopy responds — a gentle pull right, and you turn right. This sense of really flying rather than just falling is for many the finest aha-moment of the whole jump. The landing itself you then leave to him again.
### How does the parachute work and how do you land softly? The modern sport parachute is a ram-air canopy: air flows into the cells and forms an aerofoil that creates real lift and can be steered with two control lines. You land softly through the flare — pulling both brakes just above the ground, which sheds descent and forward speed and lets you touch down gently.
### How does the flare work and why do some land hard? In the flare you pull both brakes just before the ground, the angle of attack rises, lift briefly increases and speed drops. Some land hard because the timing is off: a flare pulled too early or too late ('incorrect flare') is the most common documented cause of landing injuries.
### Does the landing hurt? With a clean flare hardly at all — the standing landing feels like a step off a low stair. It can hurt with wrong timing or a hard descent rate; as a fallback the parachute landing fall (PLF) spreads the energy by rolling and above all protects the ankles. On a tandem your master lands for you both.
### Why is the landing the riskiest moment? Because almost everything comes together here: nearly 88 % of all injuries in the sport fall on canopy flight and landing, while freefall and opening are statistically harmless. The final metres demand precise timing and a controlled approach — which is why the largest share of training sits right here.
From tandem to license: AFF explained