A 10-year moving average of fatal runway-overrun accidents involving global large commercial jets during 1992–2011 shows a worsening trend, say Boeing safety specialists. Their findings about a subset of 29 Boeing airliner events from 2003 to the present — accidents, incidents and other events with less serious outcomes — reinforce runway safety solutions already being considered or adopted, however. They also could guide future safety initiatives pending new technological solutions, the Boeing experts reported in October at Flight Safety Foundation’s 65th annual International Air Safety Seminar in Santiago, Chile.
By crossing the runway threshold at the correct height and airspeed, landing within the touchdown zone, and promptly and completely using the thrust reversers and other deceleration devices, the pilots involved would have prevented the most serious of the studied events, said A. Thomas Stephens, lead, aero accident/incident analysis, and Mark H. Smith, senior acci…
