Glendalegoon:
I described the blanking effect of a stand of trees and that adding power (briefly, just a quick shot) could help. Funny thing is I have never heard of the CLUTCHING HAND...
Yet you managed to describe it perfectly. It is called the 'clutching hand', because it feels like some outside force is dragging you downwards. See "Clutching Hands" on p119, and then look at page 120, right hand column:
http://www.lakesgc.co.uk/mainwebpage...umn%201951.pdf
This is the trouble with modern aviation. So much that was learned, understood and mastered, way back in the 1930s, goes completely over the heads of many modern aviators. They like to wear the gold bars, the mirrored sunglasses, press a few buttons and smile at the No2, but know sweet FA about flying. They pull back on the stick for four minutes, with the engines at full power and the nose pointing at the stars, and still cannot work out why they are descending.
Just don't fly Air France, until all their pilots have done a two-week gliding course.
Glendalegoon:
But really, its all about rate of descent (somewhere between 0fpm and 500 fpm (maybe 600) at touchdown, in the touchdown zone ( near the 1000' fixed distance marker or so)
Without wishing this to sound like collusion, you are spot on again, Glendaledoon. I have never ever looked at pitch attitude in the flare, especially as there is precious little nose to gauge it by on a modern jet.
It all comes down to descent rate and runway perception, with which I can generally judge the wheel height to the nearest 20 cm. If you cannot judge the sink rate and your 'immersion' into the runway (as opposed to being 'above' the runway), you are in for some hard landings.