Every landing gets one to five stars and a word. The grade starts with the touch itself, and in the realistic grading (the default) it also looks at your technique and at what the conditions asked of you.

The touch

Three things are measured at the moment of contact: the vertical speed, the G-force and the bank. Together they give the touch its stars and its word, from Dangerous to Butter. The word always describes the touch itself.

The colored mark next to your rate gives the feel at a glance:

Mark	Vertical speed	Feel
Green	0 to −300 fpm	Smooth
Amber	−301 to −450 fpm	Firm
Red	below −450 fpm	Hard

A very hard touch, a big G spike or a lot of bank is always one star, however good the rest looks.

The conditions

A soft touch is not always the right one. Landing Rate looks at the runway’s surface and its state, and asks what a pilot would do there:

Wet, icy or snowy runway: land firmly in the touchdown zone so the tires bite. A greaser there costs a star, and so does a long landing.
Soft field (grass, dirt, gravel, sand): touch down slowly and gently. A firm arrival costs a star.
Glassy water: hold a steady, shallow descent to contact. A steep one costs a star.
A tailwind on a slippery runway, or drifting off the centerline in a crosswind, is something to watch.

Rain, visibility, light, gusts, crosswind, a short runway and density altitude show in Conditions and set how demanding the landing was, from Easy to Extreme.

The flare

From 50 ft down to the runway, Landing Rate watches your flare. No flare, a big balloon or a long float costs a star, and a smaller one is noted so you can work on it. Only the worst flare point counts, and a landing never goes below one star.

Simple grading

Set Grading to Simple in Settings to keep only the touch. The report still shows the conditions and the technique, but they cost nothing.

Bounces and touch and go

A landing stays the same landing until the aircraft climbs back above 50 ft. Every hop below that is a bounce of it, drawn on the runway, and the grade uses the first touch. If you climb above 50 ft, it was a touch and go and the next touchdown is a new landing.