Citing several recent “notable and high-visibility events,” the FAA is urging air carriers and pilots to review available safety information, practice safety management system (SMS) principles, and examine their operational procedures to understand the risks associated with visual approaches.

In a new Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO 25001), the FAA said the severity of the events in recent months is concerning. “As the NAS continues to grow in use and complexity, efforts have been ongoing to prevent unsafe operations such as runway incursions, unstable approaches, altitude and route deviations, and runway identification errors,” the agency said. “In light of recent events, the FAA identified the need to ensure all operators and pilots understand and evaluate the risks associated with the acceptance and execution of visual approaches.”

The FAA issues SAFOs to highlight safety issues, usually to warn of a specific issue that has surfaced, such as suspected unapproved parts, GPS disruptions, or equipment anomalies. However, the FAA will issue broader SAFOs, such as 25001; in 2023, it issued an “Aviation Safety Call to Action,” also citing several recent notable and high-visibility events.

In the most recent SAFO, the agency reminds that effective communication between pilots and air traffic controllers is essential to avoid collisions. “ATC supports the pilot-in-command’s (PIC) authority to declare ‘unable’ when a clearance reduces the safety margin.”

Reduced margins could surround vectors, speeds, or altitudes that increase pilot workload, such as unexpected vectors inside normal descent profiles and airspeed restrictions, the FAA said.

Other examples cited by the FAA include:

• Request to use a runway as a taxiway
• Use a shorter runway than expected
• Conduct land-and-hold-short operations
• Perform circling maneuvers associated with an instrument approach
• Maneuver at low altitudes on a visual approach
• Land with tailwinds or crosswinds that may increase risk to an unacceptable level
• Execute line-up-and-wait clearances
• Perform intersection takeoffs
• Follow runway exit instructions onto intersecting runways during the landing roll
• Make changes to departure, arrival, approach, or runway assignments
• Execute a visual approach

The FAA recommended that directors of operations, chief pilots, directors of training, check pilots, directors of safety, pilots, and other operational personnel review the SAFO and “take any necessary steps to ensure operations are conducted at the highest level of safety. Utilizing safety management system principles, certificate holders should evaluate changes to procedures or training to ensure PICs understand their authority for safe aircraft operation.”

Further, the agency advised using strategies to mitigate risks associated with complex operations, such as processes to ensure increased vigilance at airports with published VFR routes. The agency also suggested requesting an instrument approach to reduce the likelihood of misalignment with VFR traffic; communicating “unable” if there is not enough time to recalculate landing performance, reconfigure avionics, brief the new approach procedure, or stabilize the approach; and maintaining an active visual scan to avoid potential conflicts.

“Due to radar limitations, volume of traffic, controller workload, or communications frequency congestion, air traffic control may be unable to provide traffic information services,” the agency noted, further recommending: “Pilots should consider requesting information about other aircraft including azimuth in terms of the 12-hour clock, altitude, distance, type and direction of travel, or request radar vectors to avoid traffic conflicts.”

The FAA also reiterated that personnel should be encouraged to participate in voluntary reporting programs, apply SMS principles, evaluate risk mitigations, and review other safety information and SAFOs surrounding instrument and visual approaches and runway safety.