The skydiving landing roll: why landing is the riskiest moment, what the PLF body position and roll path look like, and why a good flare always stays plan A.
The honest answer up front: the parachute landing fall (PLF) is plan B. Plan A is a clean flare, braking the canopy just above the ground, followed by standing or a few steps. The PLF is what you do when the landing does not quite work, and USPA wants you prepared for it on every landing [1].
The statistics show why this matters. In Sweden, 226 of 257 injuries happened at landing, that is 87.9% [2]. In the Netherlands too, most injuries occur at landing, most often to legs and spine, more than half of the injured were admitted to hospital and about 10% needed surgery [3]. In Sweden, students had a roughly sixfold higher risk per jump than licensed jumpers [2].
Then there is physics: in a laboratory test with paratroopers, impact force was about 6 times body weight at slow descent and 13.7 times at fast descent [4]. At 80 kg that is roughly one tonne. The experiment is military and a sport canopy descends differently, but the principle holds: the faster you arrive, the more the roll has to absorb.
Plan A: you begin the flare when your feet are about twice your height above the ground, and finish it with your arms fully down when your feet are about 30 to 90 cm (one to three feet) above the ground [1]. If you start too high, hold the toggles where they are and do not release abruptly [1].
During the last part of final approach you press feet and knees together with the knees slightly bent [1]. Both hands stay close to the front of your body during the flare, which protects wrists and hands [1]. The chin goes to the chest, which protects the neck [1].
Your feet contact the ground first [1]. As the balls of your feet touch down, you lean into the direction of the landing [1]. You do not try to stay upright if that does not work.
USPA describes the path like this: outside of the calf, the same thigh, then through the small of your back and diagonally across the back to the opposite shoulder. Then you continue rolling to distribute the energy [1]. Memory aid: balls of feet, calf, thigh, back, shoulder. The PLF position stays in place throughout the whole roll [1].
You practise position and roll order on the ground with your instructor. Milestone: you arrive at every landing with feet and knees pressed together, even when the flare went wrong. The DFV sets safe, injury-free landing as the main canopy-flight learning goal in Level I [5].
This guide explains and motivates, it does not replace landing training or supervised instruction.
The feel from the ground matters more than theory. In debrief, ask your instructor to show you what your body did in the last 3 metres. The DFV explicitly recommends going into flare and landing technique in depth during the jump debrief [5]. Looking honestly there spares you the hard landing.
No, with a clean flare you often stay standing or take a few steps. But USPA wants you prepared for a PLF on every landing [1]. That means position ready, then you decide at the last moment whether you need to roll.
Feet and knees together, slightly bent, hands in front of the body, chin to chest. Touch down on the balls of your feet, lean into the landing direction and roll over calf, thigh, lower back and diagonally across the back to the shoulder [1]. It is practised on the ground with an instructor.
Landing is the phase with the most injuries: in Sweden 87.9% of all reported injuries [2], in the Netherlands mainly to legs and spine [3]. A systematic review nevertheless puts serious injuries needing hospitalisation at fewer than 2 in 10,000 jumps [8].
With flare training, ground practice of the PLF and a clear landing plan. The DFV names careful landing-fall and canopy-flight training as important against landing accidents and sets safe, injury-free landing as the main Level I goal [5]. Radio support can help.
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