Why does it feel like a plane accelerates just before touching down?
The aircraft flares just before touching down. It descends with a constant velocity, and just before touching down pulls the nose up to reduce the descent. This results in a higher angle of attack, more lift, and a vertical deceleration of the airplane. A passenger perceives this vertical deceleration as a force. Direction of the force is straight down and the aircraft is nose up, you're leaning back, so there is a component of (gravity + vertical deceleration) that pushes you into the back of your seat.

This same effect is used in flight simulators with a motion base. Upon accelerating, the simulator pushes forward like the aircraft does, but also slowly rotates backwards so that the pilot feels sustained seat back pressure. He cannot see the leaning back angle inside the simulator because the horizon of the projected outside visual image does not move. As happens in the aircraft: look forward in the aircraft and your view of the inside of the aircraft is always the same, irrespective of aircraft angle.


So for your eyes there is no apparent tilt, the inner ear senses rearwards force, and there is increased pressure from the seat backrest. The brain translates this into perceived forward acceleration.