short final

There is no single defined distance — controllers and crews use it loosely for the last mile or so. It is the position where an aircraft fills a long lens, the gear and flaps are fully out, and a crosswind correction is still visible.

Nearby in Aviation

• rotate — Raising the nose at VR to lift the aircraft off the runway.
• runway — The prepared strip an aircraft takes off from and lands on, numbered by its magnetic heading rounded to the nearest ten degrees.
• slats — Movable surfaces at the leading edge of the wing that extend to let the wing fly at a higher angle of attack.
• special livery — A one-off or limited paint scheme applied to a single aircraft rather than the whole fleet.