aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot ...

, a run and break is a procedure used by high-performance aircraft to join an

airfield traffic pattern An airfield traffic pattern is a standard path followed by aircraft when takeoff, taking off or landing while maintaining visual contact with the airfield. At an airport, the pattern (or circuit) is a standard path for coordinating air traffic co ...

without requiring the aircraft to spend a long time flying at low speed. As such, it is a procedure normally used by military aircraft at military airfields, however because it is also used by ex-military types it may sometimes be performed at civilian airfields. This maneuver is also known as initial and pitch; or in the US as an overhead maneuver or overhead break.

The run

The pilot circles some distance away from airfield at high speed until the

air traffic controller Air traffic control specialists, abbreviated ATCS, are personnel responsible for the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic in the global air traffic control system. Usually stationed in air traffic control centers and control ...

confirms that it is safe for the procedure to begin. Once safely cleared, the pilot aligns the aircraft with the active

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

and calls ''initial'' at a set time from the airfield (usually 30 seconds or one minute). The aircraft is then flown at high speed along the deadside of the runway in the landing direction at a low altitude, typically less than AGL. By contrast, approach patterns at civilian airfields in many countries are typically flown at feet AGL.

The break

At some point during "the run", usually midway down the runway, the pilot will fly the aircraft up and away from the runway in a tight crosswind leg, to position downwind in the pattern to land. This maneuver is performed at high-g which causes significant

induced drag In aerodynamics, lift-induced drag, induced drag, vortex drag, or sometimes drag due to lift, is an aerodynamic drag force that occurs whenever a moving object redirects the airflow coming at it. This drag force occurs in airplanes due to wings or ...

; this drag causes a rapid reduction of airspeed. During this the aircraft is configured to land. The aircraft therefore arrives late downwind in the pattern at a safe low speed, configured to land, with minimum time spent at lower speeds. The

Red Arrows The Red Arrows, officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, is the aerobatics display team of the Royal Air Force based at RAF Waddington. The team was formed in late 1964 as an all-RAF team, replacing a number of unofficial teams ...

sometimes perform a spectacular variation on the run and break, which includes a 9-ship formation loop during the run segment with the aircraft breaking to alternate sides of the runway in a staggered fashion. All the Arrows thus end up at different positions downwind in the pattern to land and can land in sequence.

External links

Description of a sortie in an L29 jet with an explanation of the run-and-break
Air traffic control {{Aviation-stub