The Long And Short Of Landings

You wouldn’t think that two common landing-phase accidents at opposite ends of the runway would have same root cause and the same corrective technique. Landing short (impacting terrain or obstacles just prior to the runway) and landing long (touching down at a point where the aircraft cannot be stopped before running off the end of the runway) account for six percent of all landing accidents, according to AOPA’s Air Safety Institute. Remove loss of directional control on the runway from the picture, plus touchdowns prior to the runway, and those extending beyond the far end of the landing surface account for almost one-fifth of the remaining reports.

Key Takeaways:

• Landing short and long, two common landing-phase accidents, stem from the same root causes: inadequate airspeed and glidepath control.
• Both issues can be resolved by correctly choosing and consistently using a runway aiming point, along with maintaining precise airspeed on final approach.
• A stabilized approach, with the aircraft in proper configuration, at the correct speed and on glidepath to the first third of the runway, is critical; if these parameters are not met, pilots must execute a go-around rather than attempting to salvage a bad landing.

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