Excessive descent rate on approach — FDM event profile

01 · Monitoring purpose

What the profile screens for

Vertical speed exceeds the validated approach-rate band at a selected height or path context.

Why it matters

High sink rate reduces recovery time and can precede warning activation, hard landing, undershoot, or go-around.

Flight-phase contextApproach

Risk lensesRunway excursion / abnormal runway contactTerrain collision / CFITOperational procedure deviation

02 · Candidate logic frame

Build the event around relationships—not one number.

01 · Gate

Define the operating context

Identify the approach state, aircraft configuration, location, and any required external data before applying logic.

02 · Detect

Screen the signal relationship

Use validated combinations of vertical speed, radio altitude, pitch; avoid treating one isolated value as the whole event.

03 · Validate

Confirm it is a genuine event

Check polarity, units, source, recording rate, dropouts, air/ground logic, persistence, and false-positive mechanisms.

04 · Contextualise

Connect data to the safety question

Review procedures, reports, weather, airport and traffic context, exposure, recurrence, and the strength of the related barriers.

03 · Signal constellation

Recorded signals that may help explain the event.

vertical speedradio altitudepitchairspeedthrust

Radio altitude

Height derived from radio altimetry, normally representing the distance from the aircraft to terrain directly below within the system's operating range.

Open parameter guide ↗ft/min or m/s

Vertical speed

The aircraft's vertical rate. Different recorded sources and smoothing can produce materially different values, especially during flare and touchdown.

Open parameter guide ↗kt

Calibrated airspeed

Indicated airspeed corrected for instrument and position error, as provided by the aircraft data system.

Open parameter guide ↗deg

Pitch attitude

Aircraft body attitude above or below the local horizontal reference.

Open parameter guide ↗% / ratio / aircraft-specific

Engine thrust

One or more recorded measures of commanded or produced propulsion; the correct signal depends on engine and aircraft type.

Open parameter guide ↗

04 · Validation and analysis

Questions before conclusions

Q1
Are vertical speed, radio altitude, pitch valid, correctly decoded, time-aligned, and sampled well enough for this event?
Q2
What changed immediately before, during, and after the excessive descent rate on approach indication?
Q3
How do aircraft configuration, weather, airport geometry, automation state, and crew reports change the interpretation?
Q4
Which current flight manual, SOP, maintenance, or operator event definition controls the final conclusion?

05 · Connected intelligence briefs

Safety topics that broaden the event review.

Deep briefs3 detailed research guides

Flight Operations

Unstable Approach

Recognize when path, speed, configuration, power, or crew readiness has moved outside applicable stabilized-approach criteria.

Open topic brief ↗Flight Operations

Go-Around Decision and Execution

Treat the go-around as both a normal safety decision and a manoeuvre whose mode, thrust, configuration, path, and workload must be monitored.

Open topic brief ↗Flight Operations

Landing Performance

Connect approved landing-distance data with current wind, runway condition, aircraft state, touchdown point, and deceleration technique.

Open topic brief ↗

06 · Related official-source reading

12 useful starting points

Terminology and topic relationships select these links; the publisher source remains authoritative.

No copied report filesSearch all related records →

U.S. Federal Aviation AdministrationRelated safety-topic match

AC 91-79B — Aircraft Landing Performance and Runway Excursion Mitigation

This FAA circular brings together landing-performance planning, time-of-arrival assessment, RCAM information, and operational practices for reducing runway-excursion risk.

Open official source

U.S. National Transportation Safety BoardRelated safety-topic match

Safety Alert SA-077 — Stabilized Approaches Lead to Safe Landings

The NTSB alert highlights the need to establish and maintain a stabilized approach and to go around when an approach falls outside applicable criteria.

Open official source

Flight Safety FoundationRelated safety-topic match

Go-Around Decision-Making and Execution Project — Final Report

The Flight Safety Foundation project examines go-around policy compliance, decision biases, operational pressures, and the risks that also need to be managed during go-around execution.

Open official source

U.S. Federal Aviation AdministrationRelated safety-topic match

SAFO 21006 — SAFO 21006, Boeing Model 757 and 767 Airplane Inadvertent Pilot Activation of Go-Around Mode

Official U.S. Federal Aviation Administration material indexed for aviation safety. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.

Open official source

U.S. Federal Aviation AdministrationRelated safety-topic match

SAFO 15004 — SAFO 15004, Scenario-Based Go-Around Training

Official U.S. Federal Aviation Administration material indexed for human factors. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.

Open official source

U.S. Federal Aviation AdministrationRelated safety-topic match

SAFO 10005 — Go-Around Callout and Immediate Response

Official U.S. Federal Aviation Administration material indexed for aviation safety. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.

Open official source