From my office desk, I have a pretty nice view of BNA, about 2-3 miles away. All day I see planes come and go. Once or twice a week I'll notice one come in for final approach, and then suddenly pull up the wheels, fly directly over the airport, start an ascent, do a big loop around, and then land 5 minutes later.

I was on a plane that did this once and the pilot said not to worry. He said there was a plane ahead of us that hadn’t cleared the "minimum safe distance." I’m hoping someone can tell me a little more about what causes this scenario. Like, usually it’s just X, but sometimes it’s Y. And maybe a peek into what these "safe distances" are.

I should add that I’m talking about regular commercial 767’s, CRJ’s etc.
This morning (7/25) it was a Southwest plane around 8am.
Just curious. Thanks!