A mi hermana le da miedo aterrizar, pero esta vez el avión tocó la pista muy suavemente.

Because Spanish often expresses this idea with the pattern dar miedo = to frighten / to give fear.

So:

• A mi hermana le da miedo aterrizar literally looks like Landing gives fear to my sister
• Natural English: My sister is afraid of landing / Landing scares my sister

This is a very common Spanish structure:

• Me da miedo volar = Flying scares me / I’m afraid of flying
• Le da miedo conducir de noche = Driving at night scares him/her

Spanish often uses this kind of thing + dar miedo + person structure instead of matching English word-for-word.

Yes, they both point to the same person, and that is normal in Spanish. This is called indirect object doubling.

• A mi hermana identifies or emphasizes who the feeling affects
• le is the indirect object pronoun that Spanish normally uses with dar miedo

So A mi hermana le da miedo aterrizar is not redundant in a bad way; it is standard Spanish.

Compare:

• A Juan le gusta el café
• A mi padre le encanta cocinar
• A los niños les da miedo la oscuridad

In sentences like this, Spanish usually includes the pronoun even when the full noun is also stated.

Le refers to my sister.

In this sentence:

• A mi hermana = to my sister
• le = to her

It is an indirect object pronoun. With dar miedo, the person who experiences the fear is treated as an indirect object.

So the structure is:

• something
  • da miedo
    • to someone

Example:

• Le da miedo aterrizar = Landing scares her

Because with dar miedo, Spanish normally uses a bare infinitive directly:

• Me da miedo volar
• Le da miedo hablar en público
• Nos da miedo caer

So:

• A mi hermana le da miedo aterrizar

This is different from another common pattern:

• tener miedo de + noun / infinitive

For example:

• Mi hermana tiene miedo de aterrizar

That is also correct.

So both are possible:

• Le da miedo aterrizar
• Tiene miedo de aterrizar

They are just built differently.

Yes, absolutely. That would be a very natural alternative.

There is a slight difference in feel:

• A mi hermana le da miedo aterrizar focuses on the idea that landing scares her
• Mi hermana tiene miedo de aterrizar focuses on the state of being afraid

In many situations, they are very close in meaning.

Because esta vez is the normal fixed expression for this time.

Examples:

• Esta vez no voy = This time I’m not going
• Esta vez salió bien = This time it went well

Spanish does not use an article here. So:

• esta vez = this time
• esa vez = that time
• cada vez = each time / every time

Because it refers to a completed action at a specific moment in the past: the plane touched the runway once.

• tocó = preterite of tocar
• It describes the moment the plane made contact with the runway

So the sentence presents the landing as a finished event:

• this time, the plane touched down very smoothly

If you used the imperfect (tocaba), it would suggest an ongoing, repeated, or background action, which does not fit as well here.

Yes. Literally, tocar means to touch, so el avión tocó la pista means the plane touched the runway.

In context, this naturally refers to the moment of landing, so in English you might translate it as:

• the plane touched the runway
• the plane touched down
• the plane landed

It is a normal and vivid way to describe the landing itself, especially the exact moment of contact.

Suavemente is the adverb form of suave, so it means smoothly / gently / softly.

• suave = adjective
• suavemente = adverb

Since it describes how the plane touched the runway, Spanish uses the adverb:

• tocó la pista muy suavemente = it touched the runway very smoothly

You could say other things, but they mean slightly different things:

• tocó la pista con suavidad = touched the runway smoothly/gently
• aterrizó suavemente = landed smoothly
• sin problemas = without problems

So suavemente specifically describes the manner of the touchdown.

Yes. El avión aterrizó muy suavemente is completely natural.

The difference is:

• aterrizó muy suavemente = a more general statement about the landing
• tocó la pista muy suavemente = focuses specifically on the moment the wheels met the runway

So the original sentence is a bit more precise and visual.

Because Spanish usually uses the definite article with nouns when referring to a specific, known thing in the situation.

Here, we are talking about the plane involved in that landing:

• el avión tocó la pista

This is more natural in Spanish than leaving the article out.

Spanish uses articles more often than English does.

No. In grammatical terms, mi hermana is not the subject there.

In:

• A mi hermana le da miedo aterrizar

the thing causing the fear is aterrizar. So the real subject is the infinitive idea aterrizar.

A simplified way to see it is:

• Aterrizar le da miedo a mi hermana
• Landing scares my sister

So:

• aterrizar = subject
• a mi hermana / le = the person affected

This is one reason the structure can feel unusual to English speakers.

Yes. Pero means but, and it introduces a contrast.

The contrast is:

• normally, landing scares the sister
• however, this time the plane touched down very smoothly

So the second half does not say that she stopped being afraid; it simply contrasts her fear with the fact that this particular landing was smooth.

It can be moved. Spanish is flexible here.

For example:

• A mi hermana le da miedo aterrizar
• Le da miedo aterrizar a mi hermana
• Aterrizar le da miedo a mi hermana

The first version is the most natural and clear in many contexts. Putting A mi hermana first helps establish right away who we are talking about.

So the position can change, but the original word order is very standard.