Runway excursion

Not to be confused with Runway incursion.

Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 after a runway excursion at Chicago Midway Airport.
Caspian Airlines Flight 6936 ended on a major road after a runway excursion at Mahshahr Airport, Iran.

A runway excursion is a runway safety incident in which an aircraft makes an inappropriate exit from the runway.

There are several types of runway excursions: [1]

  • A departing aircraft fails to become airborne or successfully reject the take off before reaching the end of the designated runway.
  • A landing aircraft is unable to stop before the end of the designated runway is reached.
  • An aircraft taking off, rejecting take off or landing departs the side of the designated runway.

When an aircraft exits the end of the runway, this is referred to as runway overrun (or informally, runway overshoot). Runway excursions can happen because of pilot error, poor weather, or a fault with the aircraft. Runway excursions may occur both during takeoff or landing.[2]

According to the Flight Safety Foundation, as of 2008, runway excursions were the most frequent type of landing accident, slightly ahead of runway incursion.[3] For runway accidents recorded between 1995 and 2007, 96% of runway accidents and 80% of accidents with fatalities involved runway excursions.[3]

  1. ^ "Runway Excursion | SKYbrary Aviation Safety". skybrary.aero. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  2. ^ "Runway excursion". Federal Aviation Administration. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Runway excursion most frequent type of landing accident: Flight Safety Foundation". FlightGlobal. March 14, 2008.