Go-arounds are safe!

In aviation, not every attempt to land ends as planned. If something is not ok, if something looks unsafe or uncertain, pilots can decide to abort the landing attempt and “go-around”. Because every attempt does not end with a landing, plans are in place to ensure that go-arounds are as safe as a landing.

Everything is prepared

So-called “missed-approach procedures” are published as part of approach procedures. Those procedures define what to do if the approach goes “missed”. Just like approach procedures, they define:

• the route to be flown, which can be a heading or a more complex route, guided by radio-navigation beacons, or a combination
  
• where to proceed, which usually is a holding pattern in the vicinity
  
• the altitude to which to which the aircraft must climb, which can also be a stepped climb
  
• which air traffic control unit must be contacted

So if an aircraft has to go around, there are no questions asked, it is simply flown according to the missed approach procedure. The preparation for a missed approach is even done in the cockpit before the landing. When the aircraft gets established on the final descent, the altitude of the first step of the missed-approach is pre-programmed in the flight management system.

The specifics of the approach procedures are discussed by the crew before starting it, usually when getting closer to an airport and when the runway on which they plan to land is assigned by air traffic control. The briefing covers all the required details, and also the missed approach.

This makes flying a go-around almost a non-event for pilots. The strong attitude and power change can feel unusual but other than that, a flying a go-around is not very different from a take-off. As go-around don’t occur often in real life, they are systematically trained during proficiency checks, which mostly take place on simulators.

Aviation is a team sport and cabin crew members are also trained for handling go-arounds. Because the transition from landing to going-around creates a temporarily high workload in the cockpit, cabin crew are normally the first to address the passengers. Their message normally goes along the lines of “our pilot decided to interrupt the landing, this is safe and they will tell you what is going on as soon as they will have time”.

Note that go-arounds can also be ordered by air traffic controllers, if the situation requires. A variation of that is the case where no landing clearance can be issued, forcing pilots to go-around even if they are not instructed to do so, but this is a rarity.

Possible causes for go-arounds

Go-arounds can occur for a variety of reasons and basically everything making the landing hazardous would lead to the flight crew flying the missed approach procedures. Common causes for go-arounds include:

• The approach not being stabilized: aircraft operators define certain points during each approach where certains parameters must be met. The speed, altitude, aircraft configuration (i.e. landing gear down, flaps and slats extended) and position relatively to the landing system’s radio signals all must be in range and if they are not, a go-around is initiated.
  
• The runway not being free: if the preceding landing aircraft still is on the runway or if a departing aircraft takes too much time and the distance between the two aircraft would be too small, a go-around is also initiated. The same rules applies if a vehicle is on the runway, or if the crew sees an object, animal or any other obstruction.
  
• Failure of the guidance systems: before the approach, the crew and air traffic control decide which type of approach will be flown. It is then briefed and executed accordingly. If the underlying ground or board equipment fails or become unavailable, the crew either must change to another type of approach (normally going for visual apporach if the runway is in sight already) or go-around. Changing from one type of approach to another non-visual one is not a good idea as it requires to brief again and prepare the cockpit and there is usnally no time for this.
  
• Rapid change in the weather conditions: it can be that the crew starts an approach required to get visual reference to the ground, for example at 200feet and that the conditions change so rapidly that flying even the last seconds visually is not possible anymore and with no time to brief and prepare for an instrument approach, a go-around must be initiated. Note that it is possible to initiate a go-around even if the wheels are already on the ground. Check this video, as an example of quickly changing visibility conditions.

• Another common reason for go-arounds is not getting visual references at the points called “minimums”, from which the aircraft must be flown visually until landing. On the simple so-called “CAT I” approaches, this is usually 200 feet above ground and it goes down to 0 with “CAT III”. This video shows a perfect example of it, when reaching 200 feet (ca. at 2:12), the pilots can’t see the ground and go around, before coming back. Weather can change rapidly and the second attempt is ok. Not how “normal” the crew acts, really showing that a go-around is not an emergency or an abnormal situation.

You can always go around

So the next time you are in an aicraft going around or the next that that you observe one, don’t forget that going around is safer than continuing the flight, it is sometimes required for various reasons and as pilots say, better to be safe than sorry.

And remember this song by Ken Dravis… you can always go around!