A stabilised approach is one flown on a steady path, speed, and configuration into the landing, and the continuous descent final approach is the technique that gets you there on a non-precision approach.
This is general educational information, not operational, legal, or regulatory advice. Rules differ by authority and change over time. Always verify against current official sources and follow your operator's approved procedures.
What CDFA means
A continuous descent final approach (CDFA) is a technique for flying the final segment of a non-precision approach as a single, continuous descent, with no level-off. The descent starts at or above the final approach fix and continues down to a point about 50 ft above the landing runway threshold, or to where the flare begins. That definition comes from ICAO Doc 8168 (PANS-OPS) and is adopted in the same words by the FAA's AC 120-108A and by EASA.
The geometry is straightforward. A 3-degree path, the most common, descends roughly 300 ft per nautical mile (a useful rule of thumb, not a regulation). A handy target rate of descent is groundspeed in knots multiplied by 5, so about 650 ft per minute at 130 knots. Fly that steady gradient from the final approach fix and you arrive in the right place at the right speed, instead of chasing the aeroplane down at the last moment.
Dive-and-drive, and why CDFA replaced it
The older technique is dive-and-drive: after the final approach fix you descend promptly to the minimum descent altitude (MDA), then fly level at that altitude until you either see the runway and descend, or reach the missed approach point and go around. The FAA describes both techniques and notes that flying a non-precision approach with a continuous descent offers a safety advantage over dive-and-drive, principally because the long level segment near the ground is a classic setup for controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). EASA goes further: under CAT.OP.MPA.115, the CDFA technique is required for non-precision approaches in commercial air transport, with limited exceptions approved by the authority.
The minimum descent altitude is a floor
There is a catch that every CDFA pilot has to understand. On a non-precision approach the MDA is a hard floor: you must not descend below it unless you have the required visual reference to land. Because a continuous descent does not naturally stop at an altitude, you have to start the go-around early enough that the aeroplane does not sink through the MDA while it transitions to the climb. The FAA calls the height at which you act a derived decision altitude (DDA), and AC 120-108A tells pilots to initiate the go-around above the MDA so the aircraft does not go below it. EASA and the UK CAA express the same idea as an operator-determined add-on to the published minima, set in the operations manual. Operators often use something in the region of 50 ft, but that amount is an operator and aircraft-type decision, not a fixed regulatory number. The rule that is fixed is simple: do not bust the MDA during the missed approach.
What "stabilised" actually means
The widely used stabilised-approach criteria come from the Flight Safety Foundation's Approach-and-Landing Accident Reduction (ALAR) Tool Kit, specifically Briefing Note 7.1. An approach is stabilised when all of these are true:
- the aircraft is on the correct lateral and vertical flight path;
- only small changes of heading and pitch are needed to stay on it;
- the speed is no more than VREF plus 20 knots and no less than VREF;
- the aircraft is in the correct landing configuration;
- the rate of descent is no greater than 1000 ft per minute, with a special briefing if a steeper approach demands more;
- the power setting is appropriate for the configuration; and
- all briefings and checklists are complete.
The Foundation recommends that the approach be stabilised by 1000 ft above airport elevation in instrument conditions and by 500 ft above airport elevation in visual conditions, and that an approach which is not stabilised by the relevant gate calls for an immediate go-around. These gate heights are Flight Safety Foundation guidance, mirrored in FAA material and in airline standard operating procedures; they are not a single universal regulation, and operators set their own gates and criteria in their SOPs.
Why insist on it? The Flight Safety Foundation's ALAR work found that unstabilised approaches were a causal factor in 66 per cent of 76 approach-and-landing accidents and serious incidents studied worldwide from 1984 to 1997. A continuous, stabilised descent removes the rushed, last-minute corrections that sit behind many of those events.
Common pitfalls
- Treating the MDA like a decision altitude without an add-on. Plan the go-around above the MDA.
- Pressing on when not stabilised by the gate. The criteria only work if a failed gate triggers a go-around, every time.
- Forgetting that CDFA still ends at a minimum. It changes how you fly the descent, not whether the approach has a minimum.
In Pilot EFB
Pilot EFB helps you plan a continuous-descent profile so you can see the gradient and target rates of descent before you fly the approach. It supports your planning and situational awareness; it is not for primary navigation, it is not a certified Electronic Flight Bag, and it does not replace the published procedure or your operator's stabilised-approach policy. Fly the approach from the approved chart and procedure.