The question to be considered is the following—starting with the aircraft flying at the minimum conventional flying speed at a given height above the ground, how should the controls be operated and the flight path chosen, in order to bring the aircraft to rest on the ground in an optimum fashion? Optimum fashion can mean different things at different times but, in this context it usually means the simultaneous loss of speed and height in such a way that obstacles are surmounted but the total transi tion distance, time, or fuel used are minimised. The problem is one which may be solved mathematically by variational methods following Hacker or Brüning, but the approach in this study is a simpler one and is based on an intuitive search for near-optimum solutions by means of physical arguments.