The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has issued a formal safety notice regarding a concerning trend in flight operations: pilots are increasingly choosing to continue landing approaches that do not meet stability criteria. According to FlightGlobal, the regulator observed that an rising number of flight crews are failing to initiate a go-around when conditions warrant, opting instead to complete the landing.

Safety Data and Risks

In a safety notice published on 4 August, the CAA emphasized that maintaining a stabilized approach serves as a critical defense against landing-related accidents. An analysis of mandatory occurrence reports and operator safety data reveals that unstable approaches are 80 to 100 times more likely to result in adverse events compared to stabilized ones. The data, covering the 2024-25 period, indicates that these continued unstable approaches most frequently result in deep or hard landings and tail-strikes.

The regulator clarified that a decision to continue an unstable approach is only acceptable when a specific, identifiable hazard dictates that a go-around would introduce greater danger. Factors such as pilot discomfort with the go-around maneuver, perceived schedule pressure, or a desire to avoid the procedure should never influence the decision to land.

Why It Matters

This trend highlights a psychological trap in modern aviation safety culture: the 'normalisation of deviance.' When pilots continue unstable approaches and successfully land without incident, it reinforces a dangerous bias that the margin of safety is broader than stipulated in flight manuals. This behavior erodes the efficacy of standard operating procedures. By avoiding the go-around, operators may be masking systemic training deficiencies or cultural pressures that prioritize arrival punctuality over adherence to established safety margins, potentially leading to a major hull-loss accident if the margin for error eventually disappears.