The rate of unstable approach events declined 36 percent in 2009 from the previous year among aviation departments participating in Flight Safety Foundation’s corporate flight operational quality assurance (C-FOQA) program, according to a statistical summary report prepared by Austin Digital, which aggregates and analyzes the data.1
The 4.5 percent rate of unstable approach events in 2009 was the lowest since data collection and analysis began in 2006, when the rate was more than 2.5 times higher, at 12.8 percent. The mean rate for the four years was half that for 2006. In addition, as the C-FOQA program has grown to include more organizations and more flights, the data have become more statistically significant — as shown by the decreasing size of the error bars.2
The FSF Corporate Aviation Committee and the National Business Aviation Association Safety Committee developed the C-F…
