The most common type of airplane accident involves departure from the runway on landing. Some pilots lose control and go off the side of the runway with plenty of pavement remaining, but many others simply run out of room and go off the end. The FAA and NTSB are so concerned about landing runway accidents that there is a proposal to add 15 percent to the required runway length for all airplanes that have a runway requirement. In general, small airplanes-those weighing less than 12,500 pounds maximum-do not have certified landing runway length requirements, but all large airplanes and all jets certified so far, no matter what the weight, do have requirements. The proposal is on hold, but I expect some new rule to require jet pilots to use longer runways will appear.
I believe one of the biggest issues in a landing runway accident is that many pilots of all types of airplanes simply don’t understand what the information in their pilot operating handbook (POH) or airplane flight manual (AFM) means, and how it was collected.
