Definition
The portion of a runway that is declared available and suitable for the ground run of an aircraft landing. It begins at the threshold and ends at the point beyond which the runway surface is no longer usable for landing rollout.
Plain English
The length of runway a pilot actually has to land on and roll out, measured from where the landing is allowed to start to where the usable surface ends.
Context Anchor
You may see this term in land and hold short operations, runway information, or landing planning when you are not allowed to use the full runway length.
Why Pilots Care
Determines whether the runway is long enough for a safe landing given the aircraft's landing distance required.
Grounding Statement
Picture a runway with an invisible stop line across it: the available landing distance is only the runway length before that line.
Intuition Check
Do not assume this means the full physical length of the runway. It means the landing distance actually available and authorized for your operation.
Example Sentence 1
Before descending into the short mountain strip, the pilot confirmed the available landing distance was greater than the figure shown in the landing performance chart.
Example Sentence 2
Construction beyond the threshold reduced the available landing distance by several hundred feet.