[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by Superman

My take: Airplanes are tough. Landings are dangerous. Slow, soft, delicate landings are perhaps comfortable, but if a pilot wants to ensure a successful landing, he will dispense with the aesthetics and PRESS that plane against the ground somewhat quickly and hold it there.

I am not a pilot and do not play one on TV, but I did get some pretty good rest last night.

Sorry but your take is not correct except in one instance. There is no reason why a good pilot cannot most of the time do a landing that is smooth and one where you barely feel the plane touch the runway.

In conditions where the runway is slick, like snow, ice or lots of rain, then yes you do need to fairly firmly plant the gear on the runway to make sure that the main tires do start to spin up and not just slide on top of the water/snow/ice.

Lastly, a pilot does not "PRESS" anything against the runway. You have a controlled rate of descent (usually about 700 feet per minute) during the approach, and you continue that until in "ground effect" where that slows down a bit but gravity continues taking the airplane down to where it touches the runway and you have arrived.