Aborted Landing
 

My poor wife just called me in tears. She's a seasoned FA but today her flight circled for an hour and a half waiting out bad weather. Upon finally being cleared to land, at the last moment, the pilot aborted the landing and pulled up abruptly. They finally landed. She still has to take off in a half hour in bad weather and fly home. I gave her all the comforting words I could muster but I can only imagine the terror she and her fellow crew and px felt.

She said she wants to quit. I told her I'd be waiting at home with some wine and a nice dinner. Don't know what else to do. She was in an aborted landing last year but it wasn't like this.

Going out now to get a really expensive bottle of vino.

No offense meant at all, but FAs are trained to handle situations much worse than aborted landings (which are a relatively common and very safe manuever).

If your wife was terrified and wants to quit from a weather delay and aborted take off, maybe she is a better fit for another role...

In terms of comforting your wife, just try to get her mind off of it.

I'd much rather have an aborted landing than a crash landing.

As the OP said, she is a "seasoned FA", we don't know what the situation was but there has been some pretty rough weather these days and this may have been more than just the "typical" weather delay/landing etc.

I'd say the wine and a nice dinner is a good way to go, perhaps some chocolate dipped strawberries too.

You're a good husband, OP. There are many threads on aborted landings on FT and much info in cyberspace, so maybe if your wife sees how common they are she will be more reassured.

I'm not a frequent flyer (about 10 segments a year), but I've had an aborted landing on Emirates in India. Talk about uneasy feeling. (I admit, I have more faith in American pilots and airport facilities.) Then the screen indicating destination changed from Bangalore to Chennai, so it was a double whammy. Luckily that was a mistake and we still landed in Bangalore (my connecting airport, not even final destination).

I think there might be more to the story than what the OP knows so far.

My wife has been a FA for over 10 years. She is definately cut out for it, she loves flying, but she's also human. From what she briefly told me, it was pretty bad, px screaming, etc. As I previously stated, she's been through an aborted landing before, but it certainly didn't cause her to call me in tears. I'll know more when she gets home soon. Definately will give her some extra attention tonight. Glad to hear it's common and relatively safe. It's got to be terrifying though. Thanks for the replies.

did they get wheels down(touch down?)? or just a go round? i've been on plane when the passengers panicked from gear and flaps going down. what do they know.

She's due to land in a few minutes. Will give her plenty of attention tonight (and stay off the internet.) I'm curious too how close they came to touchdown before aborting. Will check in tomorrow.

Wow.. It sounds like she certainly cares for her passengers

Hopefully she's feeling better.. seems like the weather is quite an impact emotionally for alot of flyers..

Bad idea.

Sounds more like a time to get a super cheap bottle. She's not going to care or realize or remember what it tastes like. ^

Aborted landings are not very common considering the number of landings every day.

FAs train for emergencies but the training only has simulated scenarios and everyone knows it is safe during the training.
There is no actual smoke/fire/screaming people/blood etc during training.

How a person reacts and feels in an actual situation can be very different.
e.g. soldiers train for war but when coming under fire, well, it's another matter.

That being said, flying is very safe and there are very few emergencies.
But the possibility is still there.
FAs should always keep that in the back of their minds that one day, they could encounter such a situation and that they have to be prepared for it.

Okay, here's the scoop. After circling for an hour and a half waiting for the weather to ease up, they finally got ATC clearance to land. The visibility was poor. Upon almost touching down (my wife says it felt like they were only a few feet from the ground), the pilot sees another plane at the far end of the runway, presumably it needed extra stopping distance due to the wet conditions. Upon seeing this, the pilot aborts and takes an aggressive angle to take off and reach 10,000 FT. Now they have to get back in line and they circled another 45 minutes before landing. During the abort, she said there was dead silence in the cabin. The second landing was very bumpy and she said that's when the px were screaming.

When she got home I had her dinner ready, some wine, and then I gave her a massage to calm her nerves. She's allright now.

i did not think a plane could land on a runway that was occupied by another plane.

That's why they aborted, I guess with the poor visability, the tower couldn't see the other plane hadn't cleared the runway already. She also told me the pilots were sweating and looked really freaked out afterwards. This has shades of Tenerife.

A couple of weeks ago on my regular Thursday evening flight, the captain decided to put the wheels down, extend the flaps and make a reasonably tight (nothing out of the ordinary, though) banked turn all at exactly the same second - not something that's usual for that flight.

This disorientated me for the best part of 10-15 seconds, when as I was trying to make sense of the unexpected forces and noises, each fine on their own but causing somewhat of a sensory overload all at once, I hadn't entirely ruled out a problem with the aircraft until I got reorientated by looking out of the window once we had straightened up (it was dark but I could just about make out a town).

Slightly later in the descent (far lower down than you'd normally get a PA), the other pilot came on the PA and made some comment about us landing safely shortly. On the airline concerned I have never heard this at this sort of point in the flight, so I guess it must have unnerved a few people and one or more had mentioned it to the FA.

Neil

Putting the flaps in a turn will tighten the turn, it is done all the time. I learnt the trick from my second instructor. Hanging everything out at the same time sounds like they were fast and high and needed to get slowed in a hurry. Probably ATC slotting them into the arrival flow relatively late in the game.

Funny. I got a mid-priced one. Kendall Jackson Pinot Noir. I remember from my single days that for some reason, women love Kendall Jackson wine.

Some Air Traffic Controller needs remedial training.....:rolleyes:

I've been through 6 go-arounds, some routine, some not. I suspect your wife has been through at least that many, so this must have been out of the ordinary.

While scary at the time, I look back at some of the roughest turbulence I've been through and I think it helped me realize how sturdy planes are. I've been through some rough patches since, but always know how much worse it can get without any problems (It also helps watching some of the videos of testing).


After a couple "I need to stop doing this" episodes, it takes 2-3 normal flights and I'm back at it. Hopefully your wife will be the same and putting this under her belt will help calm future episode and deal with other passengers going through it for the first time.

If she doesn't deal with it well, though, I would recommend a rethink. Panicking at the very moment that all the safety training is actually needed is not a good thing.

Nothing the OP wrote has led me to believe his wife panicked or freaked out during the actual incident. For all we know she could have been the picture of calm and control while onboard. To shed a few tears and vent some of the fear to your partner after the fact seems completely normal to me.

Yes, it's the "let-down" reaction from the adrenaline generated during the crisis. You stay cool at the time, do what has to be done, and then get the "shakes" and the urge to cry when the crisis is over.

As a nurse, I've experience it several times after attempting to resuscitate a patient who had collapsed unexpectedly.

Years ago I was on a flight with an aborted initial landing - it wasn't fun. If it's followed by a rough landing I could see why some passengers might freak out. We were all in shock, though the pilot had explained the situation. Tough to explain to those who haven't experienced it.

A friend told me he was seriously spooked by the pilot saying on approach in Pakistan, "Inshallah, we shall be landing safely in a few minutes." His reaction was: "What the hell's with the uncertainty here!"

If I was the pilot.. and the airplane didn't clear the runway..

I would have been screaming..

Glad the pilots took precaution.. how close.. only the plane staff would know..:eek:

Hopefully the FA is ok.. this is likely once in a lifetime thing..

Glad they landed safely ultimately and it sounds like you did all the right stuff when she got home.

Discovering other equipment on the runway certainly can be unnerving for pilots. Sounds like the flight deck crew did exactly as they should have.

There was likely a lot more fuel involved in Tenerife ... As the klm 747 had just refueled.

Yeah, she kept it under control during the incident, but had to vent to me when it was all over. She's a cool cucumber and knows she has to keep it together in front of the passengers.

Not uncommon
 

Sadly, these aborted landings are not uncommon at all.
We have experienced a couple. The one most memorable was a number of years back flying into YYZ on a big BWIA L1011....We were just about to touchdown...having seen all the airport hotels up close and personal...just waiting for that initial thud of the wheels..and then all of a sudden the un mistakable sound of the engines at full thrust...and we start to ascend!
My spouse was able to see a 737 crossing over our runway!!
A very nearly tragic occurence. I was shocked that things didn't stall on our big bird but up we went again... we circled around.. A few moments later....the Pilot came on the intercom
" Oh Hi Folks...a little traffic on the runway.....We'll try this again Shall we?"
His voice was reassuringly calm ( Almost like a recording) Did the trick...and I believe helped others remain calm.

Wow..

A little traffic on the runway..

Glad pilots have their head on straight nowadays.. A lot of accidents are being prevented.

Once had a touch and go (and yes, wheels actually touched) while landing in STL in bad weather. Everyone was calm even before the pilot came on and said what was going on. We circled around and were at the gate 10 minutes later.

I always figured it was fairly routine, I'm surprised to hear about people being nervous about them.

Its the airplane in the runway part that is scaring those who are scared..:eek: