General aviation (GA) pilots who choose to conduct intersection takeoffs rather than use the entire length of the runway are accepting a higher level of risk, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Tuesday in releasing Safety Alert 071-17.
Intersection takeoffs, where only a portion of the runway is used for departure, are used in GA operations to save time, but pilots may not fully understand the risks associated with this practice, NTSB said in a news release accompany the Safety Alert. By reducing the amount of runway used during takeoff, pilots have less runway available to them in the event of a system or engine malfunction during takeoff, to abort the takeoff, or to perform an emergency landing.
NTSB said it investigated at least 10 accidents between 2000 and 2015 in which pilots were attempting intersection takeoffs. The agency highlight…
