Coming Up Short of The Runway

Its morbidly fascinating to look at landing accidents involving pilots who came to grief while shooting an ILS in instrument weather. By contrast, VFR landing accidents tend to involve loss of control after landing, usually a result of too much speed at touchdown. Few VFR landing accidents involve crashing short of the runway itself. Yet, when actual IFR weather moves in and the airplane is on the ILS, the converse occurs, and suddenly pilots develop a proclivity for crashing before ever getting to the runway. As would be expected because an airplane is going far faster prior to the time it touches down than when it is when rolling out, landing accidents when flying the ILS in IFR conditions are more often fatal than landing accidents when flying VFR. The instrument landing system has been around for over a half century. In its own way, it is instrument flyings simple and reliable old boot; the two-needle, three-dimensional approach system that funnels one to a touchdown spot about 1500 feet down a comfortingly long runway. With a time-proven design that guides arriving aircraft over the runway threshold at a safe 50 feet or so, how come so many GA pilots find a way to depart from the friendly confines of the ILS arrival cone and smack into the planet before getting to the runway? Why are so very few GA ILS accidents in IFR of the sort where the airplane overshot the touchdown point and went off the end of the runway as is expected in VFR conditions?

Key Takeaways:

• General aviation pilots frequently crash short of the runway during ILS approaches in actual IFR weather, often resulting in fatal accidents, contrasting with VFR landing accidents that typically occur after touchdown.
• This dangerous trend is attributed to a habit pattern developed in VFR training, where pilots instinctively reduce power, slow down, and maneuver for an early touchdown upon sighting the runway, disregarding the ILS guidance.
• Such premature maneuvering and power changes in IFR conditions can lead to flying below the glideslope, re-entering clouds at low altitude, stalling with ice accumulation, or landing on the wrong surface.
• To prevent these accidents, pilots should maintain a safe, constant approach speed (e.g., 100-120 KIAS) and continue to "fly the needles" (glideslope and localizer) without making changes until safely crossing the runway threshold.

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