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Nearly all pilots have experienced a strange phenomenon during landing. While everything is happening as it should during decent, a 'cushion' of air gets trapped below the wing during the last few meters to the runway. This throws off the rate of decent and can be dangerous if the pilot has already begun to flare up and decelerate for landing. This means the plane would climb again while slowing down, which would easily lead to a stall.
However, pilots who are aware of this effect can use it to their advantage. Pilots during World War II who had fuel leaks flew scant meters off the ground, conserving fuel until safe territory was reached.
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