This situation overview provides information on runway excursions in absolute terms and by aviation categories and on related events. The information is produced by the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom and updated in English annually. In Finnish the information is updated twice a year.
N.B: For most up-to-date information on runway excursions, change language selection to Finnish.
Runway excursions 2024
In 2024, 10 runway excursions were reported in Finland or involving Finnish aircraft. The number was slightly above the average for 2014–2023 (8.6).
All incidents occurred in general or recreational aviation, as in most previous years. Two excursions occurred to Finnish aircraft abroad. None of the incidents resulted in an accident. In previous years runway excursions have typically resulted in about one accident per year. Four of last year's incidents were classified as serious incidents, which was slightly above the average (3 incidents per year).
Six runway excursions occurred in general aviation, which was slightly above the long-term average. Four incidents were reported in recreational aviation, which was also slightly above the average.
Most runway excursions occurred during the summer months and during landing, as in previous years.
In the 2024 cases, the reasons behind the excursions were diverse. The most typical were hard landings and damage to the landing gear or tires during landing, which led to the excursion. In several cases, wind conditions were a contributing factor. In the most serious hazardous situations, it was a hard landing that caused damage to the aircraft's structures.
Contributing events to runway excursions include, for example, unstable approaches, landing gear and reverse failures, rejected takeoffs at high speed, hard landings or otherwise abnormal runway contacts, and cases where information about runway conditions has been inadequate or incorrect.
Of these types of events, unstable approaches were at the level of the longer-term average in 2024. An unstable approach means that an aircraft does not follow the values specified during the approach, for example in terms of speed, altitude or angle of descent. For example, a landing at too high a speed can lead to a hard landing and a subsequent runway overrun. However, most unstable approaches were minor deviations and did not lead to significant hazards.
In 2024, just under 300 unstable approaches were reported, most of which occurred during commercial air transport approaches to Helsinki. The situation could often be complicated by, for example, challenging wind conditions. Although the number of incidents was at an average level, the number has been increasing since 2021. However, the 2024 figures are still far from the peak of 2017, when over 500 incidents were reported.
Landing gear and reverse failures were reported significantly more often than average. There were over 60 such incidents, compared to the average for 2014–2023 of around 41. Most of the incidents occurred in commercial air transport, but these did not lead to significant incidents. However, in general and recreational aviation, these incidents occurred more frequently in relation to traffic volumes. One incident led to an accident when the landing gear of a general aviation aircraft failed following a hard landing.
Abnormal runway contact events were also reported more than average, totaling just over 40 incidents. The numbers were high in both commercial air transport and general and recreational aviation.
About half of the commercial air transport accidents were related to landings that were too hard. However, the landing gear of passenger aircraft is structurally strong and can usually withstand hard landings without serious consequences.
In general and recreational aviation, abnormal contact resulted in three accidents and six serious incidents. These were also above average. Most of the cases involved hard landings, but in some cases the tail of the aircraft hit the landing pad. The landing gear of general and recreational aircraft is not as durable as that of commercial aircraft, and operations often take place on grassy or uneven surfaces, which increases the risks.
In two of the accidents, there was more than just a hard landing. In both cases, an engine failure in the aircraft during flight led to a forced landing, in which the aircraft rolled over on its nose as it hit the landing surface.
The number of cases where runway conditions were not adequately reported or were incorrect was also clearly above average. More than 30 of these cases were reported, compared to the average of around 15 for the years 2014–2023. These were often situations where the aircraft crew's assessment or the values provided by the aircraft's systems indicated that the runway was slipperier than officially reported. Most of the cases were reported in January and November, and the location of the events was most often Rovaniemi, as in the previous year.
In these cases, airport maintenance personnel checked the runway conditions and, if necessary, made new measurements. If necessary, the reported values were changed or measures were taken to improve the runway condition.
Traficom regularly publishes winter safety bulletins for both airlines flying to Finland and general and recreational pilots. Last year's bulletins were updated in early October and can be found on Traficom's website (External link). Also worth reading is
the European Action Plan for the Prevention of Runway Excursions (EAPPRE ) document (External link)published by Eurocontrol in 2013 , which contains a wealth of recommendations for preventing runway excursions. In addition,
GAPPRE (Global Action Plan for the Prevention Runway Excursions) (External link)has been published , which aims to influence the prevention of runway excursions worldwide.