Airline Pilot Performance

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06/09/2026

Runway overruns (excursions), are unfortunately a relatively common occurrence, with approximately 20% of all aviation incidents being attributed to them.

That’s 1 in 5!

Excursions on landing are normally the result of one or more of the following:

Crossing the threshold of the runway carrying excess speed

Stronger than planned tailwinds

Landing too far into the runway

Not applying (or delaying) the correct braking procedures

Not accounting for slippery runway conditions

Pilot training and aircraft manufacturers have been improving procedures and equipment to help prevent these events from occurring.

Adhering to stabilised approach criteria and landing gates are a big step in the right direction.

On board equipment, such as RAAS and RSAT provide pilots with audible alerts, such as “long landing” or “go around” to help pilots make the right decision.

But being “go around minded” is key - this mindset takes the stigma away of going around and needs to be advocated and supported by airlines, both in management and training departments.

Using ground speed to fly an accurate approach ✈️ The vast majority of approaches we fly are based on a 3 degree approac...
29/08/2026

Using ground speed to fly an accurate approach ✈️

The vast majority of approaches we fly are based on a 3 degree approach angle.

And the most common type of approach we fly, is the ILS.

Pilots are trained to fly ILS approaches manually, whilst in cloud - something that can be challenging and requires practice to get right, particularly when flying
‘raw data’.

“Chasing the needles” is a common mistake I see students make when flying raw data ILS approaches.

The key to a successfully flown approach, is knowing what ground track and rate of descent to set.

If we set the correct track and rate of descent, it reduces the likelihood of the pilot “chasing the needles” and significantly enhances the likelihood of a successfully flown approach.

A simple method of setting an accurate rate of descent, is to halve the first 2 numbers of your ground speed, and use that number as hundreds of feet per minute for your rate of descent.

For example, if your ground speed is 160kts, halve 16 = 8.

Therefore you need to set a rate of decent of 800 feet per minute in order to descend down a 3 degree slope.

140kts = 700 feet per minute
130kts = 650 feet per minute and so on.

The pilot will fly the calculated rate of descent and make small corrections as necessary.

Multiplying your ground speed by 5 also works really well.

It’s simple maths that can make flying a stable approach much simpler.

To maintain the localiser, it’s even simpler - place your track line over the extended centreline and localiser needle won’t deviate.

Do you have any rules of thumb that make your job easier?

15/08/2026

A Vietnam Airlines Boeing 787-9, registration VN-A867 performing flight VN-34 from Munich to Hanoi, was departing Munich’s runway 26L when huge clouds of dust and dirt where seen when the aircraft rotated very late and became airborne, the tail also struck the ground.

The aircraft climbed to FL100, the crew reported they had a tyre pressure indication and would need to dump fuel.

Around 90 minutes after departure, the aircraft performed a low approach to runway 26R followed by another low approach to runway 26R, the aircraft subsequently landed on runway 26R and became disabled on the runway. Runway 26R is currently closed.

According to preliminary information the aircraft overran the end of the runway and damaged the runway lights.

This is preliminary information only based on data supplied by AVHerald.

Runway excursions can be caused by a variety of reasons, including:

Incorrect takeoff performance calculations
Inaccurate weight and balance data
Incorrect takeoff thrust or flap settings
Faulty brakes

More information will be released as the investigation progresses.

📷 by .trailz
📷 by

29/07/2026

How to fly a go around in the Boeing 737 🛫

The go around is a manoeuvre that pilots occasionally have to use, when landing is no longer the safest option.

This can be for a multitude of reasons, such as the runway being occupied by the aircraft ahead, runway damage, the approach becoming unstable because of turbulence, or if the pilots don’t achieve the required visual references at the decision altitude, plus many more.

The go around enables pilots to transition from the approach phase back into a climb phase, to level off at the missed approach altitude.

This involves increasing thrust, pitching up to the go around attitude, retracting flaps and gear and accelerating to the minimum clean speed (minimum speed that doesn’t require flaps to be extended).

The pilots will then follow the published missed approach procedure. This specifies the track and vertical profile to be flown and differs for every runway.

The secret to a successfully flown go around is to not only be very familiar with the procedure itself, but to avoid the temptation to rush.

A well executed go around is one where a pilot can calmly and methodically apply the correct procedure, whilst prioritising tasks.

To avoid the surprise and startle effect of having to suddenly abandon the approach and execute a go around, pilots are taught to commence every approach as though it’ll end in a go around. This attitude keeps the crew alert and ready, should the need to go around arise.

On top of this, the go around procedure is thoroughly briefed for every approach we fly, by both pilots whilst still up in the cruise.

I filmed this video with just me in the cockpit completing both pilot flying and pilot monitoring duties.

This is something pilots are trained to do, so that in the unlikely event of one pilot becoming incapacitated, the other pilot can safely execute a go around, should it be necessary.

Have you ever experienced a go around? 🛫

23/07/2026

Why we may need to manually trim the Boeing 737 ✈️

The aircraft is normally trimmed electronically via the trim switches on the control column.

However, to cater for the rare possibility of the electric trim failing, the trim wheels have a retractable handle that can be extended to allow the pilots to move the trim wheels manually.

Both pilots have access to their own trim wheel and the handles are offset by 90 degrees from one another to allow maximum force to be applied by the pilots if necessary.

Before we open the manual trim handle, we move the “STAB TRIM CUTOUT” switches to the cutout position. This is an important step as it removes all electronic power from the trim system.

If the power wasn’t removed, not only could we be fighting an electronic input, but the trim handle could cause a nasty injury if the electronic trim triggered an input, whilst we were holding the handle.

When the pilots manually rotate the trim wheels, they’re physically moving the horizontal stabiliser at the rear of the aircraft, via a series of cables and pulleys and jack screws.

Manually trimming can be a bit of a workout and requires clear and concise communication from both pilots.

If a small amount of trim is needed, pilot flying can trim as needed.

However, if a large trim input is needed, pilot flying can ask pilot monitoring to apply the trim for them, or they can work together to trim the aircraft.

While manually trimming, pilot monitoring can also utilise their situation awareness and observe what inputs the pilot flying is applying. Eg if you can see that the amount of nose down elevator input by PF is reducing to near the neutral point, the pilot can slow the amount of trim input to avoid over trimming in the opposite direction.

For small inputs, it’s often easier for PF to trim.

Another important skill when manually trimming is to anticipate speed, thrust and configuration changes, as any of these will require a trim change.

08/07/2026

Why the 737 landing gear lever has an “OFF” position ✈️

It’s a question I get asked quite often and understandably so!

“OFF” isn’t a logical position for the landing gear!

The landing gear is retracted into the belly of the aircraft using hydraulic pressure.

Once the gear is fully up, mechanical uplocks hold the gear safely in position.

However, with the lever in the UP position, hydraulic pressure is still being applied to the system.

This is unnecessary now that the gear is being held up with mechanical latches and places extra demand in the hydraulic pumps.

So, once the gear has been retracted, the pilots will move the gear lever from UP to OFF as part of the after takeoff checklist.

This simply removes hydraulic pressure from the retract lines.

When the pilots configure the aircraft for landing, we move the landing gear lever from OFF to DOWN.

This action releases the mechanical up locks and the gear is lowered using a combination of hydraulic pressure, gravity and air loads.

Once the gear is fully down and locked, a green light - one for each set of wheels, will illuminate.

Should the primary gear down sensors fail, we have a second set of green, gear down indicators on the overhead panel.

As long as the gear is indicating down and locked on either the primary or standby indicator, the gear is down and locked and safe to land on 👍

In the very unlikely event that the gear won’t lower normally using the landing gear lever, we have a standby gear lowering system which allows the crew to manually release the gear uplocks and allow gravity to lower the gear - see my reel showing that system in operation ✈️

If you’re starting your Boeing 737 Type Rating this year and want a significant head start from an experienced Boeing 737 TRI/TRE, comment “737” and I’ll show you how

12/06/2026

Boeing 737 automatic landing process.

The vast majority of landings are completed manually.

However, to enable flight operations to continue in low visibility conditions, aircraft have the ability to conduct autolands.

For an aircraft to be able to land automatically, we need to setup and brief for the approach slightly differently.

We also require certain ground equipment to be operational at the landing airport, such as a CAT 2/3 certified ILS, specific runway lighting and the airport being in Low Visibility Procedures etc.

The aircraft receives the ILS information and displays it to the pilots in the form of a localiser and glide slope pointer on a scale.

The pilots (or autopilot) will then adjust the ground track and rate of descent to keep the pointers in the centre of the scale, which will guide the us down to the runway.

There are 3 categories of ILS approaches.

Cat 1: This normally requires a min visibility of 550 meters and cloud base of 200 ft and will be flown manually.

CAT2: This is the first category of autoland and normally requires a visibility of 300 meters and cloud base of 100ft.

CAT 3: This has a lower visibility and cloudbase requirement than CAT 2 approaches. This enables us to land with a cloudbase of 50 feet or less, or in visibilities of 175 meters or less.

The 737 autoland process begins at 50 feet above the runway.

At 50 ft, the aircraft transitions into FLARE mode. This gently pitches the nose of the aircraft up to reduce the rate of descent.

At 27 ft, the auto throttle slowly closes the thrust levers to idle.

After touchdown, the auto speed brake will deploy the spoilers and the pilot will deploy the thrust reversers and disengage the autopilot.

04/06/2026

Thankfully no one was injured, but these events can be incredibly dangerous!

This can occur for 2 reasons:

1) Landing gear failure (incredibly rare!)
2) Inadvertent gear retraction on the ground by a pilot or engineer.

The second reason is more common and has happened to airliners before.

Aircraft do have built in protection systems which help prevent inadvertent gear retraction on the ground.

These include various sensors, interlocks and solenoids which sense whether the aircraft is on the ground or in flight.

If the aircraft is sensed as being on the ground, solenoids and interlocks prevent the gear lever from moving up, which therefore prevents the gear from retracting.

This system can often be overridden by pressing an override button or pulling a trigger on the gear lever, which then allows the gear to be raised.

If the engineers are working on that system or towing the aircraft, they install gear pins into each of the gear, which physically prevent the gear for retracting.

These pins are removed after they complete the work and are placed in the flight deck.

The presence of these gear pins being stowed is omething we have to check as part of our pre flight procedures.

Time will tell what caused this, but whatever the cause, it’s a good reminder of how quickly things can go wrong and how important it is to prevent complacency from setting in.

What do you think caused it?

There are two versions of the first few weeks of your Type Rating, and you get to decide which one before ground school ...
01/06/2026

There are two versions of the first few weeks of your Type Rating, and you get to decide which one before ground school even starts.

Version one: It’s the night before day one. You have a stack of manuals, a few bookmarked YouTube videos, and no real sense of where to begin.

You know this course shapes your confidence, your performance and the rest of your career, but it all feels like a list of disconnected topics.

Hydraulics, electrics, pneumatics, automation. So you cram, and you tell yourself you will figure it out when you get there.

Day one arrives. The slides move fast. The acronyms fly past. You write as quickly as you can but nothing quite sticks, and by the evening you already feel behind.

That feeling grows. Exams start to feel stressful.

Now version two.

It is the same night, but you feel calm. You already know how the 737 systems fit together: Where the power comes from, how the flight controls are driven, what happens when something fails.

You’re not memorising. You are recognising.

Day one feels different. Each system the instructor or CBT explains clicks into something you already understand.

The pace feels manageable. The exams feel fair. And in the simulator, you are flying the aircraft, not guessing how it works.

These two futures are not separated by intelligence.

They’re separated by preparation.

I’m a current Boeing 737 Captain, Type Rating Instructor and Examiner, and I’ve created a free webinar that hands you that second version.

In about 45 minutes, I’ll show you how you can give yourself the best headstart possible.

Comment 737 and I’ll send you your invite.

If you’re planning to start a Boeing 737 type rating, I want you to imagine two very different versions of the first few...
28/05/2026

If you’re planning to start a Boeing 737 type rating, I want you to imagine two very different versions of the first few weeks.

In the first version, it’s the night before ground school starts.

You are sitting at home with a stack of notes, a few bookmarked YouTube videos, and a feeling that you’re not really sure where to begin.

But you know this matters.

Your experience of the type rating will affect your confidence, your performance, and potentially the rest of your career.

But everything feels disconnected. Hydraulics, electrics, pneumatics, automation. It is all just a list of topics you know you need to understand.

You tell yourself you will figure it out when you get there.

Day one arrives. The instructor starts talking, the CBT starts playing.

Slides move fast. You’re taking notes as quickly as you can, but nothing quite sticks.

By the end of the day, you feel tired and a little behind.

That feeling grows.

You spend evenings trying to figure out what you didn’t really understand and catch up.

Exams start to feel stressful.

And when the simulator phase approaches, you are not just thinking about flying. You are still trying to make sense of the aircraft.

Now imagine a second version.

It’s the night before ground school, but instead of feeling anxious, you feel calm.

You already know how the 737 systems fit together.

You understand the systems and what happens when something fails.

Day one feels different. When the instructor explains a system, it clicks into something you already understand.

When a new topic appears, it fits into the bigger picture.

The pace feels manageable, and the exams feel doable

And when you step into the simulator, you’re thinking about flying the aircraft, not guessing how it works.

These two futures are not separated by intelligence or ability.

They’re separated by preparation.

Comment “737” and I’ll send you your link to my free upcoming webinar.

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