The decision to take-off is an optional one, but once in flight a landing is mandatory. There are normal landings, close approaches, and landings with full-flaps partial flaps, or no flaps at all.
There are special techniques for short fields and soft-fields. Don't forget the full stop landing, touch and go, low approach, and of course the option. The gear up landing is to be avoided if possible, but sometimes there is no choice.
Then there are precautionary landings, engine failures in flight, engine failure on take-off. Landings with ice are especially challenging. There are visual approaches, contact approaches, and night approaches. You need at least an initial approach fix and final approach fix when flying with limited visibility, and there is a strict minimum descent altitude (MDA); if you don't identify the landing strip or the surrounding distinctive environment upon reaching the MDA, you must execute the missed approach, enter the holding pattern, and either go around for another attempt or divert to an alternate field.
There are holding patterns, straight-in entries, teardrop entries, and reverse entries. There is the upwind leg, crosswind leg, downwind leg, base leg, and final approach, usually just called final.
Then there are the maneuvers: straight and level, climbs and descents, normal turns, steep turns, standard rate turns, the impossible turn. Pattern work, high-altitude flight, navigation by pilotage, and ground reference maneuvers. Planning the flight to avoid restricted areas. Night maneuvers and proficiency checks.
Before one can practice any of these things, it is necessary to get into the small, intimate cockpit, close and latch the doors, and grasp the joy stick. Then the engine has to be primed and coaxed to start, warmed gently, and tested before flight. A good pilot is always attentive, he hears and feels any changes in the engine and takes appropriate action.
While it is possible to practice with a simulator, most of us find the experience greatly diminished and far less challenging and pleasurable.
