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Preventing runway excursions

5 May 2021

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Airport integration

Innovation, research and simulation

Optimised operational performance | Network Manager

Safety

EUROCONTROL and partners issue recommendations to prevent runway excursions

EUROCONTROL and Flight Safety Foundation publish guidance material

Runway excursions – when aircraft unintentionally veer off or overrun the runway on arrival or departure – are one of the most serious risks in aviation, and comprised 23% of accidents between 2005 and the first half of 2019 according to IATA (International Air Transport Association) data. To tackle this problem, EUROCONTROL and the FSF (Flight Safety Foundation) have developed a Global Action Plan for the Prevention of Runway Excursions, or GAPPRE for short.

In January 2021 the first part of GAPPRE saw the publication of recommendations for aircraft operators, airports, air navigation service providers, aircraft manufacturers and regulators. Guidance, best practices and explanatory material have now been added to the expanded version.

“GAPPRE’s guidance material and best practices helps aviation organizations put in place recommendations from the GAPPRE report. As aviation prepares for the recovery of air traffic, I encourage all operational stakeholders to use these recommendations, of course taking into account local conditions and specific contexts, to reduce operational safety risks to truly ‘build back better’ European aviation.”

Iacopo Prissinotti Director Network Management, EUROCONTROL

The risk of runway excursion depends on a number of factors such as runway condition maintenance and reporting, aircraft performance and operations, and collaborative approach path management, and can be mitigated by adhering to robust policies for safe descent and approach planning, stabilised approach, safe landing and go-around.

The aviation experts who identified the most important actions to reduce the risk of runway excursions were led by representatives from IATA, Civil Air Navigation Services Organization (CANSO), the UK Civil Aviation Authority, Gulfstream, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and the Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR) with overall coordination by the FSF and EUROCONTROL. The experts reviewed accident and incident data, single runway excursion event scenarios and best practices, and suggestions on risk and resilience management.