Description

The consequences of many runway excursions, especially overruns, are made much more serious because the aircraft end up beyond the confines of the ICAO-defined Runway End Safety Area (RESA): the aircraft may be catastrophically damaged because of major obstructions or terrain changes encountered soon after this protected area has been exceeded. Suddenly down-sloping terrain and low but substantial ground obstructions, which are of no concern to aircraft in flight, may take on considerable significance in determining the damage to an aircraft following a major overrun. The example of the Air France Airbus 340-300 which ended up in a ravine at Toronto in 2005 illustrates this well.