stick the landing

Evidently by metaphor with sticking (placing quickly, thrusting) something quite accurately into a specific place. The term is not specific to aviation: see stick. Thus, this term evidently does not come from a reference to an aircraft's stick (“control stick”). It also does not involve the same metaphor as deadstick landing, whose stick is, originally, a wooden propeller that has lost its engine power.

• "This was a big speech with a high degree of difficulty. And, Don Jr. stuck the landing."
• "In the end, the third season of Fargo stuck the landing so well that its missteps seem more like scars on fine leather than signs of a show in decline."