Airports Control Traffic Regions (CTR) and Terminal Manoeuvring Areas (TMA) are characterized by a dense flow of air traffic with high complexity levels. In nominal operations, approach flight path safety management consists in procedures which guide the aircraft to intercept the final approach axis, and the runway slope with an expected configuration to land. Current Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) publications introduced the concept of atypical approaches. Currently, atypical approaches do not have a formal definition.
Certain abnormal flights have been observed in previous studies. These include both Non-Compliant Approaches (NCAs) and Non-Stabilized Approaches (NSA). A stabilized approach is one in which the pilot established and maintains a constant angle glide-path, an approach speed and an aircraft configuration towards a predetermined point on the landing runway. NCA approaches occur when the intermediate and final leg intercepting conditions do not comply with the prescription of the operational documentation. These approaches have found to generate difficulties for both crew and Air Traffic Control (ATC). The concern of NCA occurrence is that it may induce undesirable events such as NSAs or ultimate events such as Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT).
This research will use historical surveillance data from the Amsterdam Flight Information Region, along with past studies on NCA and NSA, to define, identify, and quantify atypical approaches. The goal is to assess the frequency and occurrence of atypical approaches for Amsterdam’s Airport Schiphol’s runways 18C and 18R.
Graduated: June 2025