Circling Approaches One of the Top Challenges for Single Pilots

Oct. 21, 2024

Single-pilot operators often encounter unfamiliar and “threat-rich” environments. The 2024 NBAA Single-Pilot Safety Standdown focused on awareness of these potential issues and how to mitigate those risks.

Loss-of-control inflight (LOC-I) continues to be not only the largest category of business aircraft accidents, but also the leading cause of fatalities. Several recent LOC-I accidents have occurred as aircraft maneuvered on a circling approach to land.

Rich Boll, chair of the airspace and flight technology subcommittee within the NBAA Domestic Operations Committee, explained how circling approaches are established to provide necessary protected airspace in which aircraft can maneuver clear of obstacles, terrain or encroaching airspace.

However, given the apparent risk, a fundamental question remains. “Why do we still fly circling approaches when we have RNAV approaches practically everywhere?,” Boll said. “For one, we’re still building airports where a straight-in approach is often not possible.”

Aircraft equipment and performance considerations may also result in having to approach one runway and land on another, Boll continued, as might expired FMS databases lacking certain approaches. GPS outages, whether unintentional or deliberate, may also leave a circling approach as the best available option.

Mark Kleinhans, director of safety at FlightSafety International, cited flight operations quality assurance data showing that pilots flying non-straight-in approaches are much more likely to have an unstable approach and fly outside protected airspace.

“A non-straight-in approach increases the likelihood for overshooting the extended runway centerline by four times,” he added. “Aircraft that operate a circling approach with a tailwind on base leg are four times more likely to exceed a bank angle of 30 degrees and we see a 51% increase in [terrain] alerts.”

Boll further recommended single pilots flying circling approaches focus not on FAA minimums, but rather adopting even stricter personal standards to stay clear of obstacles and other aircraft. “Just because the chart says you can do it doesn’t mean you should,” he added. “Airplanes move. Rocks don’t.”

Exciting – But Unfamiliar – Transitions

Making the move to a new aircraft type or avionics platform, or from a multi-crewed flight deck environment, are other familiar challenges for single pilot operators. As one example, Henry Soderlund, manager for Air Safety Investigations for Textron Aviation, pointed to a Cessna 172 that crashed on takeoff from Pontiac, MI.

Despite evidence that the low-time pilot had properly calculated the aircraft was under maximum gross weight with four persons onboard, poor takeoff performance led him to tell ATC the aircraft was overgross. Soon after, the aircraft entered a spin while maneuvering to return to the runway, claiming everyone onboard.

Photos of the wreckage revealed the more likely cause: the aircraft’s flaps were fully extended, causing significant drag. Soderlund then noted a seemingly minor detail in the pilot’s flight history.

“He had three hours in that 172, because all his training had been happening in the Cirrus SR20,” he explained while displaying an image of each aircraft’s flap switches. “Putting the switch in a horizontal position in the SR20 means flaps are up; the flap switch in the 172 automatically returns to [a similar horizontal] position after pushing it for flaps up or down.”

This discovery led the NTSB to cite the pilot’s lack of familiarity with the C172 as a probable factor to the accident.

In another example, the pilot of a Cessna C510 Mustang light jet approaching Carlsbad, CA, became “overwhelmed” at top of descent when the right primary flight display became staticky, followed by failure of the aircraft’s yaw damper that disconnected the autopilot.

While this was a known issue with a simple remedy, the pilot grew convinced the aircraft was suffering from a cascading systems failure. He then hand-flew the remaining 45 minutes to touchdown, landing long and fast and overrunning the pavement, but causing no injuries to the four people onboard.

Soderlund noted that the pilot was most familiar with flying in a crewed environment and, while thoroughly trained in making the transition to single pilot operations, had comparatively little time alone on the flight deck.

“A second crewmember would have provided a little more margin to work through the problem, I think,” he said. “By the time he got to Carlsbad he was mentally and physically [fatigued] from hand-flying.”

In such cases, pilots are trained to view the autopilot as a second crewmember. “We train to use the automation to help us out,” Soderlund concluded. “And suddenly he didn’t have it.”

Held the day before the official opening of the 2024 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) the Single-Pilot Safety Standdown also examined how to reduce the risk of taxiway and runway excursions, and ongoing efforts to properly address pilots’ mental wellness.

View NBAA’s safety resources.