Pressing On: Unstable Approach Continuation Bias

Pressing On is an exploration of an aviation safety problem that has plagued commercial airline operators for years. Recent airline accidents like Asiana 214 at the San Francisco International Airport (see cover image) provide examples of this phenomenon, when pilots continue an unstable approach to a landing attempt. The risk of collision with terrain and/or a runway excursion has been identified by both governmental regulators and airlines alike, yet this risk to a catastrophe continues to exist on a regular basis in the National Airspace System.

Find out why a pilot would risk an accident or incident when deciding to press on when faced with evidence of an unstable approach. Pressing On is filled with an in-depth technical and historical background on unstable approach risk and serves as a window into the issues associated with not only the reasons airline accidents of this type occur, but how to predict these events and prevent them from happening.

Follow along as Captain Odisho puts you in the flight deck of a commercial airliner approaching a landing at a busy metropolitan airport. Learn how widespread the problem of pilot unstable approach risk is in the airline industry, how previous safety risk mitigation strategies have not been successful, and how his research provides a path forward to eliminate the problem of pilots pressing on to landing during an unstable approach.