The nighttime arrival at a familiar airport had gone smoothly. The runway I used was 5000-plus feet long, way more than my Debonair needed, so I let it roll a bit to save the brakes. I must have gotten distracted during the rollout because the next thing I noticed was the end of the runway coming up, fast. I still had about 30 knots of speed—perhaps I hadn’t fully closed the throttle on landing. I stomped on the brakes, fully retarded the throttle and pulled the yoke back into my gut. We slowed sharply, and I negotiated the turn onto the taxiway to the ramp without further drama.
That’s the last time I remember being even close to running out of runway on landing. I learned a few lessons that night, which have helped keep me out of the weeds since, unlike what happened to a regional jet crew, preserved for posterity in the image below. One of the things I learned is that planning to come to a stop after landing begins well before touching down.
