NTSB Shines Spotlight on Runway Safety during Heavy Rain | Aviation International News

NTSB Shines Spotlight on Wet Runway Safety

Recommendations follow analysis of 11 runway overruns from 2008 to 2022

Pilatus PC-24

By Amy Wilder • Writer

May 27, 2026

Three new NTSB safety recommendations call for the FAA to make changes to how runway conditions are assessed during heavy rainfall, warning that pilots face a greater risk for overruns under the current assessment system.

These recommendations follow NTSB investigations of 11 runway overrun accidents and incidents from 2008 through 2022 that occurred after landings on wet runways. In nine of these overruns, a shortfall in the measure of the runway’s slipperiness—the wheel braking friction coefficient—most likely resulted from moderate to heavy rainfall intensities and the associated increased water depths on the runways. Low runway friction was cited as a causal or contributing factor in eight of the 11 overruns, the report says.

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