Analysis of Influence Factors for Unstable Approach in Fine⁃Grained Scale

  Objectives  Unstable approach is one of the most important risks that threatens the flight safety during the descending phase, and is affected by factors such as meteorological and topographical that have strong spatial heterogeneity.

  Methods  In this article, we use the big data of quick access recorder (QAR) that collected by China Academy of Civil Aviation Science and Technology (CAST) to detect the unstable approach happening in Airbus and Boeing aircrafts in January 2018, and utilize exploratory spatial data analysis methods to explore the spatial patterns and relative influencing factors. In addition, Pearson correlation coefficient and geographically weighted correlation coefficient are used to investigate the pair-wise relationships between unstable approach and factors.

  Results  Experimental results show that unstable approaches of different aircraft types are distinctive in spatial distributions, and unstable approach of same aircraft type spatially varies in different regions in China. Besides, the correlation description in the fine-grained scale is better than in the global scale.

  Conclusions  This study provides an important research basis and guidance for the future quantitative cause analysis, which is significant for avoiding such risks.