Industry safety data reveals that events where an aircraft unexpectedly departs the runway during takeoff or landing are the leading cause of commercial airline accidents. In 2008, there were 28 accidents involving runway excursions, representing 26% of all accidents last year. To address this, IATA and the Flight Safety Foundation developed the Runway Excursion Risk Reduction Toolkit.
The toolkit provides an in-depth analysis of runway excursion accident data, a compilation of significant risk factors, and provides recommendations for operators, pilots, airports, air traffic management, air traffic controllers and regulators.
Definition
Runway Excursion: When an aircraft on the runway surface departs the end or the side of the runway surface. Runway excursions can occur on takeoff or landing. They consist of two types of events:
- Veer Off: A runway excursion in which an aircraft departs the side of a runway
- Overrun: A runway excursion in which an aircraft departs the end of a runway.
Summary:
- Between 2004 and 2008, runway excursion accidents represented 139 of 501 total accidents or 27.7%.
- Runway excursions are the number one cause of accidents in commercial aviation.
- Fatalities from runway excursions were 662 of 3512 (18.8%) in this five-year period.
Summary:
- More than 82% of runway excursion were during the landing phase of flight. The primary threats to be addressed are:
- Un-stabilized approaches
- Failure to make go-around decision
- Abnormal touchdowns and pilot techniques
- Contaminated runways and meteorological factors
- Landing performance calculation errors
- Mechanical malfunctions during landing
- Non-compliance with Crew Resource Management and Standard Operating Procedures
- The primary takeoff threats to be addressed are:
- Inaccurate takeoff and landing performance calculations
- Improper rejected takeoff
- Loss of aircraft directional control during takeoff
Note that this rate is based on the number of accidents divided by the number of flights by operators in each regions.
Summary:
- Highest runway excursion rate observed in Africa and in the Middle East/North Africa
- The Runway Excursion Risk Reduction tool kit will be distributed globally
- IATA will conduct three regional workshops by year-end 2009 (Middle-East, Africa and Asia-Pacific) to increase knowledge and address correction measures to lower threats associated with runway excursions.
Updated: September 2009