Evaluating Unstable Approach Scenarios with a Specific Energy Method Applied to a Brazilian Airport

• Leonardo Matoso de Abreu
• José Alexandre Tavares Guerreiro Fregnani
• Donizetti de Andrade

Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica

Evento

XX SITRAER – Joinville, SC, Brasil, 18 a 20 de outubro de 2023

Volume

Proceedings of XX SITRAER – Air Transportation Symposium · ISSN 2448-1912

Páginas

99–111

Editora

Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC)

Editores

Renata Cavion, Rafael Gigena Cuenca

Abstract

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released the 2022 Global Aviation Flight Safety Report, revealing a reduction in the number of fatal accidents, compared to the 2021 figures and the average of the last five years prior. The Boeing Company has been gathering and studying accident data involving commercial aircraft since 1959. The last Boeing report published on the subject in August 2022 points out that the highest percentage of fatal accidents occurred in the final approach and landing phases. One of the causes of an unstable approach is the pilot’s inability to manage the aircraft’s total energy (translational kinetic and gravitational potential) during the approach phase since there is no directly related indication in the cockpit. Be that as may, both low and high-energy scenarios can lead to a non-stabilized approach during the final segment, thus representing the most common contributing factor that leads to a loss of control in flight, controlled flight into terrain, and runway excursion. Traditionally, flight safety management systems use Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) applications to assess the risk level of flight operations, based on the volume of exceedances occurring in the various flight phases. In the present work, three Boeing 737-400 approaches at Eduardo Gomes International Airport (SBEG) in Manaus, Brazil, have been analyzed taking advantage of all flight data collected from an FDM system to identify and understand possible atypical data, as well as potential precursors of unstable approaches from the initial approach phase on that can lead to accidents or incidents. A total specific energy condition monitoring method has been applied to such data to determine specific low- and high-energy scenarios applicable to such locations. The results are conveyed and combined into pilot training recommendations to mitigate unstable approach risks and in the final instance, to avoid accidents.

Keywords: Unstable Approaches; Flight Data Monitoring; Total Aircraft Energy