What the profile screens for
One or more validated stability criteria remain outside the programme definition and the approach continues toward landing.
Why it matters
Continuation links multiple precursors to runway excursion, abnormal contact, undershoot, and loss-of-control exposure.
Build the event around relationships—not one number.
Define the operating context
Identify the approach / landing state, aircraft configuration, location, and any required external data before applying logic.
Screen the signal relationship
Use validated combinations of airspeed, path deviation, vertical speed; avoid treating one isolated value as the whole event.
Confirm it is a genuine event
Check polarity, units, source, recording rate, dropouts, air/ground logic, persistence, and false-positive mechanisms.
Connect data to the safety question
Review procedures, reports, weather, airport and traffic context, exposure, recurrence, and the strength of the related barriers.
Recorded signals that may help explain the event.
Radio altitude
Height derived from radio altimetry, normally representing the distance from the aircraft to terrain directly below within the system's operating range.
Open parameter guide ↗ft/min or m/sVertical speed
The aircraft's vertical rate. Different recorded sources and smoothing can produce materially different values, especially during flare and touchdown.
Open parameter guide ↗ktCalibrated airspeed
Indicated airspeed corrected for instrument and position error, as provided by the aircraft data system.
Open parameter guide ↗% / ratio / aircraft-specificEngine thrust
One or more recorded measures of commanded or produced propulsion; the correct signal depends on engine and aircraft type.
Open parameter guide ↗discreteLanding gear status
Command, position, lock, and ground-sensing states associated with the landing gear; these are separate signals with different meanings.
Open parameter guide ↗Questions before conclusions
- Q1
Are airspeed, path deviation, vertical speed valid, correctly decoded, time-aligned, and sampled well enough for this event?
- Q2
What changed immediately before, during, and after the unstable approach continued indication?
- Q3
How do aircraft configuration, weather, airport geometry, automation state, and crew reports change the interpretation?
- Q4
Which current flight manual, SOP, maintenance, or operator event definition controls the final conclusion?
Safety topics that broaden the event review.
Unstable Approach
Recognize when path, speed, configuration, power, or crew readiness has moved outside applicable stabilized-approach criteria.
Open topic brief ↗Flight OperationsGo-Around Decision and Execution
Treat the go-around as both a normal safety decision and a manoeuvre whose mode, thrust, configuration, path, and workload must be monitored.
Open topic brief ↗Flight OperationsLanding Performance
Connect approved landing-distance data with current wind, runway condition, aircraft state, touchdown point, and deceleration technique.
Open topic brief ↗12 useful starting points
Terminology and topic relationships select these links; the publisher source remains authoritative.
Go-Around Decision-Making and Execution Project — Final Report
The Flight Safety Foundation project examines go-around policy compliance, decision biases, operational pressures, and the risks that also need to be managed during go-around execution.
Open official sourceAC 91-79B — Aircraft Landing Performance and Runway Excursion Mitigation
This FAA circular brings together landing-performance planning, time-of-arrival assessment, RCAM information, and operational practices for reducing runway-excursion risk.
Open official sourceSafety Alert SA-077 — Stabilized Approaches Lead to Safe Landings
The NTSB alert highlights the need to establish and maintain a stabilized approach and to go around when an approach falls outside applicable criteria.
Open official sourceLining Up with the Correct Glide Slope
Official Airbus Safety First material indexed for approach and landing. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.
Open official sourceNear CFIT event during Non Precision Approach
Official Airbus Safety First material indexed for approach and landing. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.
Open official sourceThe Circling Approach
Official Airbus Safety First material indexed for approach and landing. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.
Open official sourceUse the Correct BARO Setting for Approach
Official Airbus Safety First material indexed for approach and landing. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.
Open official sourcePrevention of Unstable Approaches
Official Airbus Safety First material indexed for aviation safety. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.
Open official sourceSAFO 21006 — SAFO 21006, Boeing Model 757 and 767 Airplane Inadvertent Pilot Activation of Go-Around Mode
Official U.S. Federal Aviation Administration material indexed for aviation safety. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.
Open official sourceSAFO 15004 — SAFO 15004, Scenario-Based Go-Around Training
Official U.S. Federal Aviation Administration material indexed for human factors. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.
Open official sourceSAFO 10005 — Go-Around Callout and Immediate Response
Official U.S. Federal Aviation Administration material indexed for aviation safety. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.
Open official sourceAirbus Brake Testing
Official Airbus Safety First material indexed for runway safety. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.
Open official source