Originally Posted by obscure2k
I believe your pilot behaved quite professionaly. Good grief, you are alive and talking about this incident. These things happen. I would not look for any recompense and be grateful that you are here on FT to talk about the incident. A three hour delay is a small price to pay. Count your blessings
I agree, the pilot did a good job. Personally, I would take his word for the near miss and not look for "confirmation". Each pilot will have a different opinion of a near miss. I also would prefer him to be frank because I sure would want to know what happened if I were on that plane.
As far as fuel goes, I think (and someone correct me if I am wrong) is that you must have enough fuel on board to your pre-designated alternate airport plus 45 minutes. There may have been some circling before your failed landing attempt and the attempt itself uses a fair amount of fuel. Then there is a line that a pilot has to draw on when he thinks he can get back in line vs. actually having enough fuel to get to the alternate. Just watch the NGC story on Avianca Airlines if you want to know what happens when you run out of fuel after a missed approach and out of range of your alternate.