The Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) and Eurocontrol today released a broad set of recommendations aimed at preventing runway excursions, which they said are now the most frequent type of accident for both small and large aircraft. Dubbed the “Global Action Plan for the Prevention of Runway Excursions” (GAPPRE), the report was developed by more than 100 aviation professionals at some 40 organizations, with the effort led by FSF and Eurocontrol.
“Reducing runway excursions and continuing to improve the overall safety of the approach and landing phases of flight continue to be a primary area of focus for the foundation,” said Flight Safety Foundation president and CEO Dr. Hassan Shahidi. “We are gratified by the efforts of the many safety professionals who gave of their time and expertise to make the GAPPRE a reality, and I want to thank our partners at Eurocontrol, ACI, CANSO, EASA, and IATA for their continuing commitment to safety collaboration.”
With the release of the action plan, FSF is launching a year-long campaign to focus attention on runway excursion risk and support the implementation of the consensus-based GAPPRE recommendations. Overall, there are 101 recommendations outlined in the report—17 for airport operators; eight for air navigation service providers; 35 for aircraft operators; 16 for aircraft manufacturers; 17 for aviation regulators and ICAO; and eight for research and development.
According to FSF, runway safety and GAPPRE will be regular themes this year at its organized events, starting with its virtual safety forum on February 11. While GAPPRE is the foundation’s latest initiative related to approach and landing safety, FSF also offers the “Approach and Landing Accident Reduction Toolkit,” along with recommendations from its recent “Go-Around Decision-Making and Execution Project” report.