If you’ve never sat in the cockpit during landing, this might come as a surprise: from the pilot’s seat, you can’t actually see the runway straight ahead when you're about 15 feet above it.
Because of the nose-high attitude to land on the main wheels (back set), the airplane’s nose blocks the view of where you’re going. You don’t land by looking at the runway, you land by looking along it, using your peripheral vision (called the Lindbergh Reference) and depth cues to sense height, alignment, and flare timing.
Every landing is a blend of sight, feel, and instinct ... trusting what you’ve practiced instead of what you can see. It’s a reminder that sometimes, even when the view ahead disappears, you can still land perfectly.
* I had this article planned, and had a planned flight yesterday to take a video and pictures of this to show, but there was a problem with the airplane and had to scrub the flight.
** Picture used is mine, landing on runway 21 (pronounced "two one") in Sedona, Arizona.
