missamo80

Last night my flight from Vegas (AS605) did a go around just before touching down. Nothing quite like the engines spinning back up as the pilots go " ".

It was due to the winds shifting and we were the first plane to opt out of landing in those conditions. The next two planes behind us said nope, then the airport went on ground hold, they swapped runway directions, and we landed going the other way.

The ATC chatter is kinda fun to listen to, especially the third plane that says "nuh huh". Our flight first shows up at 6:40 in the recording. Other highlights:

• 6:49: Weather report from tower for our flight "320 15 gusts 27"
• 7:09: Our flight asks "at the surface?"
• 8:05: Tower asks us if the precipitation is "just rain". Response is "standby".
• 8:30: SkyWest 4799 is told "310 15 gusts 27"
• 8:58: SkyWest 4799 says "Can we get that wind again?"
• 9:10: Our flight says we're going around
• 9:26: SkyWest 4799 also says it's going around
• 10:30: SkyWest 4568 gets winds "330 17 gusts 27"
• 10:44: SkyWest 4568 replies "Confirm the winds?"
• 10:49: SkyWest 4568 goes around, saying "Unable. What'd you like us to do?"

Flight track for our flight, SkyWest 4799, and SkyWest 4568. We got a lovely view of downtown Tacoma.

Neil

apodo77

I was 17 and going to Washington DC for a young leadership conference thing traveling alone (1989).
On approach to National severe thunderstorms popped up and we aborted landing. Circled for a bit then diverted to Dulles.
Trabsportation was arranged for National for the conference.

Nothing like being 17 with no cell phone and no idea what to do.
Somehow I survived. :-)

Your post made me remember that.

jrl767

go-arounds are always entertaining (this from a former Boeing Flight Test engineer, who saw a lot of 'em from the first observer's seat directly behind the pilot of the #4 767-200)

of course there was also the one I saw from 11D of an Allegheny Convair 580 at ITH ... as we turned parallel to the runway to set up for the second attempt I noticed a Cessna 150 just clearing onto the taxiway; walked out of the terminal about 10 min later to see one of my ROTC classmates getting into his car in front of the general aviation hangar ...

BJM

Everyone should experience a go around at least once in their life. I have experienced two or three, and seen several. The coolest one I witnessed was while driving north on the 405 freeway near LAX. QANTAS 747 seemed to suspend in mid air over the freeway as it rotated up to execute it's missed approach.

MonThruThurs

Is this because of the shifting winds or because the gust velocity exceeds the limits of the 737?

Being in Seattle around this time yesterday, it was nasty. Wouldn't have been a great experience in the air.

missamo80

From the chatter I heard, SeaTac was close to wanting to swap the landing direction anyway due to sudden wind direction change, and hadn't put it into practice yet. One of the other flights was a CRJ, the other an E170, so I don't think it was plane specific.

My only other go-around was on an international flight where on final approach (like wheels down, almost landed), I watched another plane go diagonally underneath us. We booked it out of there!

Neil

MonThruThurs

Went down a little rabbit hole of research. Given the wet runway condition, and assumed medium to poor braking setting, it looks like the 737 was not able to land due to gusts being over the SOP limit.

http://aviation.stackexchange.com/qu...ng-takeoff-and

I would think that CRJs and eJets would have even higher restrictions, which the audio seems to corroborate.

KRSW

RaginPlainsman

This made me remember one of my favorite (though not at the time) flying experiences.

EasyJet from London on approach to Split, Croatia. Just about to land, then the engines throttle up and we start climbing. Small British child behind us exclaims, "Papa, are we going to die?!"

Pilot came on to say we were coming in too high, hence the go around. Best I can tell, we did not die.

formeraa

That's funny! My first go-around was around that same time at Washington National, though I was a few years older. In my case, we were just too close to the plane in front of us. So, we got back in the conga line and landed at DCA about 15 minutes later.

flyupfrnt

My one and only was due to runway encroachment at LAX as we were nearing the deck on an Old American Mad Dog. Those jets spooled up and the pilots aimed high and off we went. I bet we weren't more than 200 feet up when they initiated the go around. I believe that there is a button they press that takes everything to max and all they do is "steer"

Chugach

Had one at PDX in 2004 on what was a bizarre flight.

ANC-PDX red eye. Delayed about two hours, got to PDX and the airport was fogged in. Diverted to Yakima, of all places. I still remember crossing the threshold at YKM and seeing this pilot of a little Cessna staring bug-eyed at the 737 on final.

Pulled up to the terminal and waited. And waited. Then waited some more. After about 90 minutes, the QX staff attempted to fuel our 737. Great idea, except they couldn't figure out how to do it. Our pilot had to leave the plane and physically show them how to attach the fuel hose to the wing.

Finally gassed up and took off, maybe a quick 30 minutes over to PDX, which was still marginal but above minimums. On short final we spooled up and blasted above the fog, to see a Korean Air 747 freighter pop up from the fog underneath us. Finally landed at PDX after shooting the approach again.

KRSW

You would be believing correct -- the button is called TOGA, for Take Off Go Around. One touch and it'll automatically adjust the throttles for near-maximum thrust.

missamo80

How did we ever survive without the Internet?

Take Off / Go Around Explained

Neil

TMOliver

I was young once, but recall a moment which causes a portion of one's anatomy to seriously gnaw the seat cushion, a "Hook Skip" on my first arrested night landing on an aircraft carrier in the Med. I was riding in the back of the creaking C1A "COD", and that moment when it became apparent that the a/c was not going to be "arrested" caused both tight jaws and what can best be termed as "loosening of the bowels", a truly uneasy feeling unabated until the a/c had gone around for a second try, caught the hook in the cable, and jerked to a stop.