Go Around

So many passengers have experienced a Go Around and have ended up becoming fearful flyers as a result. To a passenger who is contentedly sitting in his or her seat expecting to land and then suddenly ‘shooting back’ up into the sky the feeling must be alarming.

By contrast, sitting in the pilot’s seat we EXPECT to do a Go Around … it’s part of our pre-landing preparation. If we can’t see the runway at the designated height we climb away, follow the laid down route and either divert or reposition to make another approach.  When doing ‘automatic’ landings involving the use of the autopilot the same procedures apply but the plane is lower when the decision is made. To encourage pilots when they first start their careers, we suggest that they think about a Go Around as being the same as any other take off … except that you don’t do the bit on the ground. It’s a very effective way of ensuring that from the start of their careers that a Go Around is routine to them, and not seen as something abnormal. The difference between the pilots’ expectations and the passengers’ is that pilots always expect to Go Around and passengers always expect to land.

Years ago when I used to fly around Scotland, where we’d operate six flights in a day it wouldn’t be unusual to five Go-Arounds, sometimes two or three before being able to land at some airfields. In the early 70’s we used to call it “overshooting”.
The procedure that British Airways used at the time was for one pilot, usually the co-pilot to fly the plane and the Captain would be looking out for the runway and approach lights. If they weren’t visible he’d, (there were no women pilots then) expect the co-pilot to open the throttles and climb away at the decision height without any instruction from him. And that’s all there was to it. Routine, standard. And that’s all there still is to it … except that today the automatic pilots are more likely to be flying the plane under the supervision of the pilots.[

On the call Go Around”]

 The pilot flying the plane advances the power levers to Go Around Thrust and calls for the wheels or flaps to be retracted slightly, according to the aircraft type. Then, typically they will keep climbing to 1000 feet and then lower the nose slightly. As the plane’s speed increases the Captain calls for the rest of flaps to be retracted whilst continuing the climb. Most aircraft have auto GA so it ‘s just a matter of clicking a switch and the plane does almost everything else for you! Although it may surprise you when it happens it really is nothing to be alarmed about.[/toggle]

 

Best wishes,

Captain Keith