Ask Captain Lim ~ All about Aviation

The take off and climb to cruising altitude, and the descent and landing of the airplane are the two most critical phases of the entire journey. This is because, the engines are at their maximum thrust in order to safely takeoff from the runway, whereas during the cruising phase, the engines thrust are considerably reduced. 

During the final approach and landing, the cockpit crew has to cope with many variables like strong winds, low level turbulence, wind shear or low visibility. Such weather phenomena do put a lot of demand on the cockpit crew.

Statistically, about seventy percent of all serious accidents occur during these critical phases of flight that may only constitute about less that five percent of the whole journey!