My instructor has played a *huge* part in my successful landings so far. I haven't really had to just exactly when to flare just yet. There is surprisingly calm voice to my right that says "Not yet... not yet... not yet..... now."
I've already hit some "interesting" weather conditions(well... interesting enough for me). In this warm weather I've hit thermals on the way in. Its a little disconcerting to discover that you have stopped decending when you've just trimmed for it (on the base leg here) to do so just seconds earlier. While this might not be such a big deal for the experience pilot, it does make a 6 hour old student on his first circuit panic a bit when they find themselves a 100 feet high than they expected and not what was in his notes of the power and altitudes for his plane for circuit patterns at the airport. Yes I did freeze and yes the instructor took over at that point but he did hand back control to me for the final.