Originally Posted by
Milestone
On July 5, the day before the accident, Asiana 214 had a Go Around, with a very odd low flight profile and glidepath as per one of the charts up thread. Very low and distinctly different from the prior 3 OZ 214 flights or the crashed flight It would have had an even more disastrous non-landing had it not G/A.
Weather was essentially the same, PAPI working, ILS out.
Any ideas of what was going on with that flight?
not sure what charts you refer to, but if they're based on flightaware data i'd discount them as nearly useless…
having said that, it is not uncommon for SFO to experience go-arounds just about every day, particularly in the mid- to late-morning during peak arrivals of intercontinental flights and commuter-plane banks. oftentimes the heavies have to do the side-by-side landings with tiny RJs or even Brasilias, and in some cases the heavies are coming in a bit too fast and are unable to stay behind the small planes as instructed by the tower and have to abort. in other cases they go around for no reason that we can discern, such as a runway incursion or an unstable approach.
any one of these situations could have been the case for OZ214 the day before the crash.
edited to add: on a go-around, the aircraft will typically climb to between 3,000 and 5,000 feet prior to attempting the landing again, so if the 'charts' you mention cover the last 30 minutes or so of flight, then you'll see the flight you're wondering about start at a substantially lower altitude.