Runway excursions (RE)

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Runway excursions 2025

In 2025, 2 runway excursions were reported in Finland or involving Finnish aircraft. The number was clearly below the 2015–2024 average of 8.5. One case occurred in recreational aviation involving an ultralight and the other in foreign general aviation in Finland.

The ultralight case was classified as a serious incident. In it, the aircraft encountered strong wind gusts during landing, leading to a bounced landing on the runway, and finally, the aircraft spun off the runway. At the same time, the nose gear collapsed under the aircraft.

Thus, significantly fewer runway excursions occurred in general and recreational aviation last year than in previous years. On the other hand, for example, hard or abnormal landings, which often anticipate a runway excursion, were reported in approximately the same numbers as in previous years. Thanks to either skill or good luck, these incidents did not lead to the aircraft veering off the runway. 
In itself, a hard landing can cause equally bad or worse consequences, even if it does not lead to a runway excursion. Last year, hard landings resulted in a total of 2 accidents and seven serious incidents. Regarding accidents, the number was at the same level as in previous years, and there were slightly more cases classified as serious incidents than the average.

Runway excursions have hardly ever caused accidents so serious that lives would be lost. On the other hand, equipment damage can be very significant.

Types of incidents that may contribute to runway excursions include, for example, unstable approaches, landing gear and thrust reverser faults, rejected takeoffs from high speed, hard landings or otherwise abnormal contacts with the runway, and cases where reporting of runway condition has been inadequate or incorrect.

Below are a few highlights based on this monitoring.

Unstable approaches were in 2025 approximately at the level of the long-term average, but compared to the previous year, there were fewer of them.

An unstable approach means that the aircraft does not adhere to defined values during the approach, for example regarding speed, altitude, or descent angle. For example, a landing performed at too high a speed can lead to a hard landing and subsequently a runway excursion. Most often, unstable approaches were minor deviations.

Last year, however, one unstable approach led to a serious incident. In the case in question, a foreign airliner descended significantly below the procedural approach altitude during final approach in Rovaniemi. The crew noticed the situation and performed a go-around. The case has been classified as a near-CFIT type, because in this situation the most probable consequence was collision with terrain or an obstacle rather than a runway excursion.

Faults related to landing gear were reported slightly more than in the previous year. As in the previous year, one of the cases led to a serious incident when the landing gear of a general aviation aircraft did not lock properly and the aircraft made a belly landing on the runway. In previous years as well, landing gear faults have on average caused one serious incident.

Abnormal contacts with the runway, such as hard landings, were reported in numbers approximately equal to the average (18). 2 cases led to an accident and 5 to a serious incident. These numbers were at the level of previous years.

Although the majority of abnormal contacts occurred in commercial air transport, mostly no serious consequences followed. In passenger aircraft, landing gears are built so strongly that they generally withstand hard landings without serious consequences. However, after a hard landing, a technical inspection must be performed on the landing gear to ensure its condition. In commercial air transport, one hard landing occurred to a hot air balloon on a public flight, where a passenger was injured. This was classified as a serious incident.

The other most serious situations occurred in general or recreational aviation. In the first accident situation, the engine of an ultralight aircraft failed, and the landing was very hard. The pilot was injured and the aircraft was damaged. In the second accident, a glider was significantly damaged as a result of a hard landing.

Serious incidents involved similar types of situations, but more severe damage or injuries were avoided.

Cases where runway condition was reported inadequately or incorrectly occurred slightly more than the average (17), but nevertheless fewer than in the couple of previous years. As in previous years, these typically involved situations where the crew's assessment or values provided by aircraft systems indicated the runway was more slippery than officially reported. In these cases, airport maintenance personnel went to check the runway conditions and performed new measurements if necessary. If needed, reported values were changed or measures were taken to improve runway condition.

The majority were reported from airports in Northern Finland in January–February and November–December. Evaluated by total numbers, the situation developed in a better direction compared to previous years.

Traficom regularly publishes winter operations bulletins for both airlines flying to Finland and general and recreational aviators. Last year's bulletins were updated at the beginning of October and can be found on the Traficom website.

Also worth reading is 
published by Eurocontrol in 2013 , which contains a wealth of recommendations for preventing runway excursions. In addition, 
has been published , which aims to influence the prevention of runway excursions worldwide.