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 long and landing short, common landing accidents, share a root cause in poor aiming point selection and inadequate airspeed control during approach.
• Correctly choosing and using a runway aiming point, combined with precise airspeed management, is the common cure for both landing long (due to excess speed) and landing short (due to insufficient speed).
• A stabilized approach, ensuring correct configuration, speed, and glidepath, is critical; if any parameters are not met, especially within 200 feet of the runway, a go-around must be executed to prevent an unsafe landing.

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