runway excursion of aircraft

Understanding Runway Excursions in Aviation: Causes and Prevention

Runway excursions in aviation are critical events that involve an aircraft departing the end or side of a runway surface during takeoffs or landings.

Despite being more common than we might think, runway excursions can have serious consequences, leading to accidents, injuries, and substantial damage.

In this article, we delve into the world of runway excursions, exploring their types, causes, and prevention strategies.

Why Runway Excursions Happen

Runway excursions are a more frequent occurrence in aviation than many of us realize.

The 2021 ICAO safety report reveals that in 2020 alone, nine accidents were attributed to runway excursions, resulting in 24 fatalities, 77 serious injuries, and significant damage to aircraft, including hull losses.

The recent Korean Air incident serves as a reminder of the potential risks associated with runway excursions.

What is a Runway Excursion?

A runway excursion occurs when an aircraft departs either the end or the side of the runway surface during takeoffs or landings. There are two main types of runway excursions:

• Veer-Off: An aircraft departs the side of the runway.
• Overrun: An aircraft departs the end of the runway.

Factors Leading to Runway Excursions:

During Takeoffs: Several factors contribute to runway excursions during takeoffs, highlighting the importance of precise decision-making and performance calculations.

Common factors include:

• Incorrect Takeoff Performance: Underestimating aircraft weight may lead pilots to attempt takeoff from an intersection point, reducing runway length. This can result in the aircraft running out of runway during takeoff.
• Poor Decision-Making: Pilots attempting to stop an aircraft after the decision speed (V1) may struggle to halt the aircraft’s momentum, often due to a failure occurring beyond this point.
• Engine Failure: Engine failure at the beginning of takeoff can make rudder control ineffective, causing the aircraft to veer off the runway due to unequal thrust.

During Landings: Runway excursions during landings are influenced by various factors, not solely pilot error .

Environmental conditions and runway states play pivotal roles:

• Unstabilized Approaches: Inability to maintain a stable approach with proper speed, glide, heading, and vertical path can lead to a runway overrun.
• Excessive Speed: Landing with excessive speed requires heavy braking, which may be insufficient to prevent a runway excursion after touchdown.
• Poor Touchdown Technique: Incorrect technique, such as floating over the runway or late engine thrust idling, can result in touchdown beyond the optimal zone, reducing deceleration space.
• Tailwinds and Crosswinds: Strong tailwinds can increase the risk of a runway overrun, while improper crosswind management can cause veering off the runway.

Preventing Runway Excursions

• Accurate Performance Calculations: Pilots must correctly assess aircraft weight and performance parameters to ensure adequate runway length for takeoff.
• Stabilized Approaches: Maintaining stable approach criteria, including correct speed and alignment, is crucial to preventing runway overruns during landings.
• Crosswind Techniques: Properly aligning the aircraft to the runway centerline and gradually adjusting for crosswinds before touchdown can mitigate veer-offs.
• Environmental Awareness: Pilots should consider runway conditions and tailwind limitations to make informed decisions during takeoffs and landings.

In the realm of aviation safety, preventing runway excursions is a paramount concern that requires a comprehensive approach.

Pilots and aviation professionals must adopt stringent measures to minimize the occurrence of these critical events. Accurate performance calculations during takeoff are essential, as underestimating aircraft weight can lead to attempting takeoff from an intersection point, potentially resulting in a runway overrun.

Stabilized approaches during landings play a pivotal role in preventing overruns, ensuring that the aircraft maintains the correct speed, alignment, and vertical path.

Crosswind techniques are vital for safe landings, where aligning the aircraft with the runway centerline and gradual adjustments before touchdown can mitigate veering off. Environmental factors, such as tailwinds and runway conditions, should always be taken into account, guiding pilots’ decisions during takeoffs and landings.

By combining these strategies and fostering heightened environmental awareness, the aviation community can collaboratively work towards reducing the risk of runway excursions, safeguarding both passengers and aircraft from potential harm.

Runway excursions remain a significant concern in aviation safety, demanding continuous vigilance and training to prevent accidents and incidents.

By understanding the causes and implementing effective prevention strategies, pilots and aviation professionals can work together to reduce the occurrence of runway excursions and ensure safer skies for all.

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What is a Runway excursion ? What are different types of Runway Excursions ? What are the common contributing Factors ?

✔Runway Excursion is the event in which an aircraft veers off or overruns the runway surface during either takeoff or landing.

✔One of the world’s most common reported event can end up either being an incident or a fatal accident.

✔There are four types of runway excursions: ‘Takeoff veeroff’, ‘Takeoff overrun’; ‘Landing veeroff’ & ‘Landing overrun’ out of which, Landing overruns & veeroffs are among the majority.

The Major factors Responsible for these excursion can be seen as :

✔Landing Overrun Factors:

👉Wet/Contaminated runway 👉Tailwind 👉Long landing or Incorrect decision to land 👉Speed too high 👉Late/incorrect use of brakes & reverse thrust. 👉Aquaplaning 👉Too high on approach

✔Landing Veeroff Factors:

👉Crosswind 👉Wet/Contaminated runway 👉Nose wheel steering issues 👉Hard landing 👉Landing gear collapse 👉Tire failure 👉Asymmetric power

✔Takeoff Overrun Factors:

👉Wet/Contaminated runway 👉Abort/reject – After V1 👉Tire failure 👉Takeoff mass too high/incorrect

✔Takeoff Veeroff Factors:

👉Crosswind 👉Wet/Contaminated runway 👉Nose wheel steering issues 👉Asymmetric power

Author – Tanmay Palei Sr. Aircraft Structure Enginee r

Linkedin- https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanmay-palei/

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Runway incursion vs. excursion – what is the difference.

Accidents that occur at airports can often be classified as either a runway incursion or excursion. Though severe incidents remain rare, minor examples happen more frequently than one might think. However, what is the difference between these two types of incidents?

Runway incursions

The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) defines a runway incursion as:

"Any occurrence at an aerodrome involving the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle, or person on the protected area of a surface designated for the landing and take-off of aircraft."

Runway incursions are categorized separately to 'surface incidents.' This term concerns unapproved movements with the potential to affect flight safety that take place away from an airport's runway(s), such as on its taxiways or apron. The FAA categorizes runway incursions with increasing severity as follows:

• D - Incidents that meet the definition of a runway incursion, but have no immediate safety consequences.
• C - Incidents in which there is ample time/distance for the parties involved to avoid a collision.
• B - Incidents with decreased separation between the parties involved, resulting in significant collision potential. Time-critical correction/evasive response may be required in order to avoid a collision.
• A -  Incidents in which a collision is only narrowly avoided.
• Accident - Incidents in which the runway incursion results in a collision.

Incidents of varying severity

Such incidents have the potential to be incredibly severe. The Tenerife airport disaster in March 1977 resulted in 583 fatalities after two Boeing 747s, operated by KLM and Pan Am, collided on the runway at Tenerife North Airport. More recent examples include:

• Southwest Airlines flight 1392 struck and killed a person on the runway while landing at Austin, Texas, in May 2020.
• S7 Airlines flight 5219 was forced to make a go-around at Magadan, Russia, in August 2020 after its crew spotted a bear on the runway while on final approach.
• Two HK Express Airbus A321s   collided on the ground in Hong Kong in August 2020, resulting in no injuries.

Runway excursions

A runway excursion, on the other hand, is an incident in which an aircraft leaves the runway surface. This can either be in the form of veering off to the side, or overshooting the end of the runway. The FAA states that:

"These surface events occur while an aircraft is taking off or landing, and involve many factors ranging from unstable approaches to the condition of the runway."

Recent runway excursions include:

• Pegasus Airlines flight 747 slid off to the left of the runway at Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen while landing in January 2020, before becoming stuck in the soft ground. No injuries were reported.
• Air India Express flight 1344   crashed upon landing in rainy conditions after overshooting the runway at Kozhikode, India, in August 2020, resulting in 20 fatalities, including both pilots.

In order to reduce runway excursions and their associated dangers, the FAA has developed an online support tool . This resource carries a particular focus on upcoming winter operations, as this is a time in which weather is likely to be less favorable. It is refreshing to see the FAA tackling this problem head-on, despite the distractions of the present challenging aviation climate.

What are your thoughts about runway incursions and excursions? Let us know what you think in the comment section.

Home > Blog > A Guide to Runway Excursions: Types, Causes, and How to Prevent Them

A Guide to Runway Excursions: Types, Causes, and How to Prevent Them

by admin | Oct 22, 2022 | Airport Lighting

When a plane unexpectedly deviates from an airport’s runway, it’s often assumed to be involved in a runway excursion. This type of accident can be devastating – not only to the pilots and passengers of the plane – but also to the ground crew near the area where it occurred.

Although very few runway excursion accidents result in fatalities, they can still result in severe injury or death, especially at small airports with short runways. This guide looks into the types of runway excursions, their causes, and the preventive measures every airport should take to avoid them.

What Is a Runway Excursion?

• Runway Excursion Vs. Incursion

Overrun on Takeoff

Overrun on landing, why runway excursions happen, how to prevent runway excursions, global action plan for the prevention of runway excursions (gappre).

A runway excursion happens when an aircraft makes a wrong exit from the runway. This event occurs when an aircraft overruns or veers off in the runway surface during landing or takeoff. Several factors, such as poor runway surface conditions and unstable approaches, contribute to this error. 

Some 1,469 runway incursion accidents happened in US airports in 2021, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Most airport incursions happen in small airports. 

Runway Excursion vs. Incursion

A runway excursion adversely affects the overall safety of the airdrome as it risks collisions with an aircraft, personnel, or other objects. Several factors that cause this incident include mechanical issues, pilot error, and poor weather conditions. 

Meanwhile, a runway incursion happens at an airfield that involves an incorrectly placed aircraft, vehicle, or person on the runway’s designated landing and takeoff area. It is a surface incident caused by movements not approved on the runway that can affect flight safety. 

Both runway incursion and runway excursion can hamper the operations of an airport.

Types of Runway Excursions

This excursion happens when the aircraft departs on the edges of a taxiway or runway. When the aircraft is taking off or landing moves to the side of the designated runway. This incident can result in damage to the aircraft and airfield installations. In worst cases, it can cause injury or even death to persons on board the aircraft. 

A departing aircraft fails to become airborne or take off successfully before reaching the designated end of the runway. According to the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), overrun on takeoff occurs 18% of the time (compared to 82% during landing).

A landing aircraft that fails to stop before the end of the designated runway is reached. The outcome of such an incident can be pretty serious if there is not enough safety area that could reduce the consequences of such an overrun.

Aircraft runway excursions are among the most common causes of airport accidents. Most runway excursion events are survivable. However, they also account for many fatalities in the aviation industry because of how frequently they occur compared to other accidents. 

According to the Flight Safety Foundation, these are the common causes of runway excursions during landing:

• Mechanical malfunction
• Long touchdown
• Ineffective braking because of runway contamination, improper technique, or hydroplaning 
• A necessary go-around was not conducted

The study also attributed the pilot’s overconfidence during landing as another cause of an excursion. It is uncommon, though, and difficult to quantify.

By far, the best way to prevent runway excursions is a holistic approach that involves the contribution of all the stakeholders. At its core, the collaborative work requires identifying hazards, conducting risk assessments, and improving runway safety through training and better infrastructure. 

Other actions that airports and airdromes can do to decrease runway excursions include:

• Hosting safety reviews to identify existing gaps and creating a corrective action plan.
• Paying attention to human factors such as fatigue, distraction, stress, etc., which can complicate even a simple task. 
• Following standard operating procedures (SOPs) to the letter.
• Reviewing existing runway excursion mitigation measures and ensuring they are well executed.
• Investing in better structure and proper airport lighting system for the runway’s safety area. 
• Adhering to safety recommendations by various aviation groups and government agencies.

Managing the danger of runway excursions is one of the most exemplary instances of how various aviation segments cannot succeed solely. The control of runway excursion risk and resilience depends on closely interrelated components.

The GAPPRE is a list of recommendations and instructions that summarizes the aviation industry’s consensus on the best practices to avoid runway excursions beyond regulatory compliance. It’s a 60-page aircraft operator’s guidance material that the flight crew can use as part of their daily routine. Several civil aviation organizations have worked to create the action plan, including the Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSP) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Improve Your Airport Lighting System

Runway excursions are a threat that every airport or airdrome must address. Aside from following the GAPPRE recommendations, airport management can also invest in a proper airport lighting system for improved visibility and safety, especially at night. 

Hali-Brite knows the value of safety for everyone in the airport. That’s why we created an excellent lighting system at reasonable prices. We also provide FAA-certified lighting products and solutions that fit your airport’s requirements. Contact us here today, and we’ll give you a free quote.

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Runway Safety Areas (RSAs)

Runway safety areas (RSAs) serve as the primary safety mitigation for runway excursions . A runway excursion is a veer off or overrun of an aircraft from the runway surface. Runway excursions also include aircraft that undershoot (land short of) the runway surface or land adjacent to the runway surface. Taxiway safety areas (TSAs) provide similar safety mitigation for taxiway excursions.

Safety areas preserve the same characteristics that pioneer aviators sought for airfields in the days before paved runways: smooth and clear grading; good drainage; load bearing capability; and the absence of non-essential and non-frangible objects. Airports today maintain these same characteristics throughout their determined RSAs to prevent aircraft damage and/or injury to aircraft occupants in the event of a runway excursion. Safety areas also support aircraft rescue and fire fighting (ARFF) equipment and snow removal equipment (SRE).

In essence, safety areas provide additional space and time for runway excursion aircraft to stop safely. Functionally, safety areas provide energy management for runway excursion aircraft. They reduce the severity of a runway excursion by safely dissipating the runway excursion aircraft’s kinetic energy (movement) while preserving its potential energy (fuel load) until it deaccelerates to a complete stop.

RSA Dimensions

Standard RSA dimensions encompass the area around a runway where runway excursions are most likely to occur. The airspeed and size of the runway’s critical aircraft, along with the runway’s visibility minimums, provide the primary factors to determine a runway’s standard RSA dimensions. The airport planning process identifies the applicable critical aircraft.

Airport operators determine the dimensions of each runway’s RSA by incorporating all available land within the runway’s standard RSA dimensions that is capable of supporting safety area characteristics. Ideally, the determined RSA dimensions match the standard RSA dimensions, meaning that all land within the standard RSA dimensions is RSA compatible. This constitutes a standard RSA.

Determined RSA dimensions must exclude land that is incapable of supporting RSA characteristics. Such land is referred to as RSA incompatible area. Where RSA incompatible area exists within the standard RSA dimensions (i.e., the determined RSA dimensions do not match the standard RSA dimensions) the RSA is considered nonstandard. The FAA encourages all airports with nonstandard RSAs to seek opportunities to expand their RSA compatible land or reconfigure their runways to meet standard RSA dimensions.

RSA Determinations & Inventories of Objects

RSA determinations and inventories of objects located within RSAs reside in the FAA’s Airport Data and Information Portal (ADIP) .

Data, Tools, & Resources

• Airport Data and Information Portal (ADIP)
• Video: Runway Safety Area and Runway Incursion Mitigation Programs
• Runway Safety: Runway Excursions

Regulations & Guidance

Regulations.

• Title 14 CFR Part 139 - Airport Certification Provides regulatory requirements for safety areas at certificated airports

Orders, ACs, & Other Guidance

• Advisory Circular 150/5000-17 - Critical Aircraft and Regular Use Determination (current version) Provides information to determine a runway’s critical aircraft
• Advisory Circular 150/5070-6 - Airport Master Plans (current version)
• Advisory Circular 150/5220-23 - Frangible Connections (current version) Provides information to construct FAA approved frangible structures
• Advisory Circular 150/5300-13 - Airport Design (current version) Provides information to determine standard safety area dimensions and to design and maintain standard safety area characteristics
• Draft Series 150 Airport ACs
• FAA Order 5200.8 - Runway Safety Area Program
• FAA Order 5200.9 - Financial Feasibility and Equivalency of Runway Safety Area Improvements and Engineered Materials Arresting Systems
• See EB 79A - Determining RSA NAVAID Frangibility and Fixed-By-Function Requirements
• See EB 103 - Engineered Materials Arresting System Retroreflective Markers
• See SOP 8.0 - Standard Operating Procedure for Runway Safety Area Determination
• Airport Design and Construction Branch

Related Links

• Reducing Runway Incursions and Excursions
• Engineered Materials Arresting Systems (EMAS)
• Runway Incursion Mitigation ( RIM ) Program

Near accident at Gold Coast emphasises importance of stable approaches and early go-around decisions

A Cessna 172 struck the ground and nearly collided with hangars while going around following a fast and long landing on Gold Coast Airport’s shorter cross runway, an ATSB investigation report details.

On the afternoon of 6 February 2024, a Cessna 172R with a student pilot and flight instructor on board was returning to the Gold Coast at the end of a training flight, with the student receiving an initial air traffic control clearance to track direct to runway 32 (the southern end of Gold Coast Airport’s main runway). 

About 40 seconds after that initial clearance, the student and instructor then accepted an amended clearance to track to the shorter runway 35 at ‘best speed’.

Then, when the Cessna was at about 1,000 ft and 1.9 nautical miles from the runway 35 threshold, air traffic control directed the aircraft to maintain ‘best speed all the way in to crossing the runway’, and the instructor – unsure how to comply – directed the student to reduce throttle to idle and lower the aircraft’s nose.

“The aircraft subsequently passed about 100 ft above the runway threshold at about 25 kt faster than the normal approach speed,” ATSB Director Transport Safety Stuart Macleod said.

“Unable to slow the aircraft down before the runway’s end, the instructor attempted to turn onto taxiway Golf, but the aircraft skidded onto the grass, and the instructor elected to conduct an emergency go-around.”

During the go-around the aircraft’s fuselage struck the ground, and the pilot heard the stall warning horn, so lowered the nose slightly, narrowly clearing a row of hangars.

“Landing with excessive speed is likely to result in the aircraft floating, landing long on the runway, bouncing and/or ballooning, all of which increase the risk of a landing mishap,” Mr Macleod said.

“Although not standard phraseology, air traffic controllers may ask pilots to maintain ‘best speed’, and it is up to the pilot to determine what is best in this context, and more generally advise if an instruction is unclear or cannot be complied with.” 

The ATSB final report notes the aircraft exceeded the speed for a stabilised approach, but the instructor did not conduct a go-around prior to landing, or while on the runway.

“When operating in visual meteorological conditions, if an approach is not stabilised by the height specified by the operator – or generally by about 500 ft above the ground, or the approach becomes unstable after that point, go around,” Mr Macleod said.

“Pilots are to always be ready to conduct a go‑around during the approach if any desired flight parameter, such as aircraft configuration, vertical speed, airspeed, or attitude, cannot be achieved.” 

Read the final report: Taxiway excursion, ground strike and near collision with terrain involving Cessna 172R, VH-EWW, at Gold Coast Airport, Queensland on 6 February 2024

Palm Beach Gardens-area airport could get longer runway

After years of study, the public has until May 21 to weigh in on detailed plans to extend the diagonal runway at the North Palm Beach County Airport.

The county has been pursuing the extension to 6,000 feet from 4,300 feet since identifying the need in 2006. It would allow more jets, including Cessnas and Gulfstreams.

“The proposed project is expected to induce an increase in aircraft operations at the airport to meet existing demand from larger aircraft,” a recently completed consultant’s report says.

An expected 2,500 more aircraft operations are projected by 2030 over the 110,346 already anticipated. Jets would account for about 700 more operations.  The total project is expected to cost $25 million and be completed by 2025.

Environmental Science Associates of Tampa’s $1 million Draft Environmental Assessment reviews alternative options and documents impacts such as noise and wetland destruction.

A $743,000 federal grant helped pay for the report. The COVID-delayed study began in 2019.

The county-owned airport is just outside of Palm Beach Gardens west of the terminus of PGA Boulevard at the Beeline Highway. The airport opened in 1994 as a general aviation reliever for Palm Beach International Airport.

In 2016, Palm Beach Gardens signed off on the expansion as long as the county applied for a control tower, which is included in the county plans. 

Since then, construction has begun on nearly 4,000 homes, most selling for more than $1 million, in Avenir, about a mile southwest of the airport.

The study found no noise impact on Avenir because it lies beyond high-noise areas, which are confined to the airport grounds.

About 12.5 acres of wetlands would be affected by the runway and taxiway extension and the move of a portion of the airport access road. Another 21 acres would be subject to tree trimming at the edges of the runway.

No wetlands in the county-owned Loxahatchee Slough would be affected. The county would replace the destroyed wetlands nearby.

Residents can see the plans at a workshop at 5:30 pm May 14 at Palm Beach State College’s Palm Beach Gardens Campus, Biotech Building, Room SC-127, 3160 PGA Blvd. Staff will accept public comments starting at 6:30 pm.

Comments also may be mailed to Palm Beach County Department of Airports, 846 Palm Beach International Airport, West Palm Beach, FL 33406 by 5 pm May 21 or sent by email to [email protected] .

A comprehensive review of airport projects was scheduled for yesterday's County Commission meeting.

Consolidating car rental facilities at PBIA near the terminal would cost $315 million while consolidating north of Belvedere Road would cost $171 million. Parking costs could be going up.

This story was originally published by Stet Palm Beach , a WLRN News partner.

Brisbane Airport Juggles Runway Maintenance With Aircraft Flight Movements

• Brisbane Airport's second runway will be crucial for essential maintenance of the main runway thresholds.
• Original main runway wear and tear requires replacement of aging concrete slabs to ensure continued safe flights.
• Sensitive issue of nighttime noise with flights shifting to new runway, managed with public awareness campaign.

In 2020, Australia's Brisbane Airport opened its second runway, and while it had a quieter than expected workload due to the pandemic, it will certainly come in handy while the original runway undergoes essential maintenance between June and September. While the airport will remain 100% open, nearby residents may notice some temporary changes to aircraft flight paths during the major work.

Four decades of wear and tear

Brisbane Airport (BNE) has been connecting Queenslanders to the world since 1988, and now the original main runway needs significant work to keep it going for decades more safe take-offs and landings. The runway is in good condition, but there are 18 aging concrete slabs at the ends of the runway that need replacing in the area known as the runway threshold.

After carrying the intense weight of fully loaded aircraft while waiting for take-off clearance, it's unsurprising that they are at the end of their operational life and need to be dug up and replaced. The total area that needs to be demolished is 1,000 square meters (10,800 square feet), and once that's done, fresh concrete will be poured, aviation lighting installed, and runway markings reinstated.

The threshold slabs must carry up to 560,000 kilograms (617 tons), which is the weight of the fully loaded Emirates A380 operating at Brisbane Airport. The thresholds at both ends of the runway need to be replaced sequentially, and the airport stresses that it will remain open and not close due to these works.

The runway will be shortened from 3.5 to 2.7 kilometers (2.2 to 1.7 miles) to facilitate its use during the threshold works. This will allow the smaller jets typically used on domestic flights to continue using this runway while constructing the new thresholds.

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This a sensitive issue for some

However, large widebody aircraft such as the Boeing 787 or 777 or the Airbus 380, A350 or A330 carrying international passengers and exports will be moved to the new parallel runway. While schedules will vary each day, the airport said approximately 30 flights per day will be moved, and around half of those will operate in the 22:00 to 06:00 period.

This is a sensitive issue for the airport as ever since the second runway opened, it has endured criticism from some communities regarding nighttime noise . The airport and Airservices Australia have worked diligently to find solutions, but the issue is not yet 100% settled, which is why these changes are being managed so sensitively.

The airport management recognizes the change will impact communities under the newer runway flight path and is undertaking an extensive public awareness campaign that will begin more than two months before construction and will include print, television, BVOD, online, social media, and billboards. Today, Brisbane Airport CEO Gert-Jan de Graaff said:

"We understand that this will affect some people living in nearby communities and we apologise, but this is essential work to keep us all safe and connected to the world."

This may confuse some readers, but the project has been scheduled for the winter months, when there is historically less rain in Brisbane, to minimize weather delays and complete the work as quickly as possible. Work will begin on June 24 and continue for 12 weeks, weather permitting, to be completed in September.

This airfield work is part of the AU$5 billion ($3.2b) Future BNE program , which includes more than 150 projects that will transform the airport for many decades to come. Other projects include upgrades to the domestic and international terminals and the planning for a new Terminal 3.

Are you happy with how this is being organized? Let us know in the comments.