Every pilot has an opinion regarding what creates a good landing. Some will say it’s all about seat position; others will tell you it’s strictly airspeed control or where you look down the runway in the flare. As with many things in aviation, it comes down to planning and preparation. Those two ingredients come from a stabilized approach to land.
What does it mean to be stabilized? Consider all the elements that make for a good landing: airspeed control, stabilized power setting, stabilized normal descent rate, on glidepath/slope, runway centerline, landing configuration, and all checklists completed. If all of these items are in place, the aircraft is stabilized and ready to land.
Many accidents that occur during the landing phase happen because a pilot attempted to “fix” an unstable approach, such as making drastic power changes to correct glidepath/slope; an excessive rate of descent to “get down” below a cloud deck; or overbanking to correct for an overshoot of final. These are the first links in the error chain that could result in an undesirable outcome.
The error chain references a series of events that, if left uncorrected, could lead to an undesirable aircraft state, meaning the aircraft is departing from normal flight conditions and could experience an accident or incident.
The concept of a stabilized approach is designed to assist the pilot in ensuring the aircraft doesn’t depart from normal flight by requiring all aspects of the approach to be on target by a certain point.
Since most aircraft incidents occur during takeoff and landing, it’s important to have a definitive point at which, if the aircraft isn’t ready to land, a goaround must be performed.
Most airlines require stabilization criteria to be met at certain altitudes above the airport elevation. For example, during a visual approach to land, the aircraft must be stabilized by 500 feet above airport elevation. During an instrument approach, the aircraft must be stabilized by 1,000 feet above airport elevation.
The next time you’re on final, ask yourself, “Am I stabilized?” Airspeed? On glidepath/slope? Fully configured for landing? Stabilized power setting? Checklists completed? There are only two answers to that question: stabilized or go around.
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