This was 1989 in a violent thunderstorm in the spring. Haven't been on a plane shaking and getting thrown around like a rag doll since. Not sure how computerized the 727 was back then.

The reason for the aborted landing was a plane was still on the runway.

In a SAAB turbo prop into Ballina, Australia. Bad weather was the cause. Not pleasant, and made a bumpy, sickening flight that much longer.

this proves DCA is a dangerous airport. it should be closed. if possible, landings are from south to north.

I really hope this was intended to be tongue in cheek.

If you think every airport with an ackward approach should be closed you might end up with a pretty long list. Secondly wind direction dictates which direction take off and landings. Deviating from that would probably prove more dangerous than flying along a river to avoid imaginary lines in the air.

Well I'd rather have a pilot who'd go around and try again then one who thinks they can land in anything and then have an accident. Don't need "machismo" flying my airplane.

That said, if DCA weren't so convenient to Congress, it probably would have been closed like many old downtown airports.

If you're wondering what the other circled P-56 area is, that's the US Naval Observatory, where the Vice President lives.

i think the wind was from the west at about 8knots. they could use either approach under those conditions. one problem in the evening is that the big(320) mcclain special planes for the west coast like to take off to the south. they will even wait for a gap in landings from the south to take off south.

Don't know how or why you've come to this conclusion. As others have said, (in most cases) landing and take off direction is based on where the wind is blowing and nothing more. With very low ceilings, they might land to the north with a (tolerable) tail wind because the ILS minimums on RWY 1 are lower than the LDA/DME to 19. In fact, I was on a NWA flight several years ago when we failed to break out of the clouds on 2 south missed approaches. The captain was pretty nonchalant and said we'd switch around and land to the north, which we did without incident.

Hopefully you were in an "A" seat. If so, looks like you got a nice sightseeing tour of DC thrown in at no additional charge!

i had forgotten, dca will force what they can to the south if there is an event at the white house. takeoffs to the south, landings intermixed with takeoffs from the south if possible. the whitehouse outranks the wind and all other airport criteria.

that brought back old memories from late 1980s.... :(

I used to fly the Pan Am Shuttle from DCA to LGA 5 times a week. There
was this one flight during a snow storm(rare for the DCA area) that I will
never ever forget.

The 727 was ready to land on rwy 19. Just as we crossed over the 14th St
bridge, the pilot pulled up and told everybody to stay calm because the
tower told him to go around. Later we found out that a small commuter plane
on rwy 15/33 had started its take off roll too soon and the tower cancelled
our landing clearance just in time)

The plane climbed and banked left, then did a big loop around Andrews.
A few minutes later, we came down the Potomac again to line up for landing
on 19. We were already over the runway when the loud 727 engine roared
like rockets... went around again because of winds. (this is the 2nd go
around)

It was only about 50 minutes from LGA to DCA. The two go-arounds have
already added 25 minutes.

I started to worry a bit because I noticed DC was now on the right and VA
was on the left, as the plane started to make its 3rd attempt to land. The
pilot later said that the winds have changed and the airport has switched
from rwy 19 to rwy 1(heading north). IIRC, the plane was near Mt. Vernon
when it started CLIMBING(!). The tower had closed the runway because the
previous plane that took off reported icing on the runway.(it was the first one
to take-off after the runway switched from 19 to 1. I don't know if this
counts as 3rd go-around, since we were still over Mt.Vernon when told to
divert.

In any case, the LGA-DCA shuttle flights usually didn't carry that much extra
fuel, not enough for 2(or 3) go-arounds. The pilot came on and announced
the bad news. We were going to Dulles. :( About 20 minutes later, we
landed at IAD safely. An hour later after that, all the passengers were bused
to DCA. I didn't get on the bus and just took a taxi. (since I lived only a
couple of miles from IAD)

It was a wintry adventure.... to say the least. (well.. not really, it was only
half inch of total snow, but that's all it took to grind DC to a halt) :D

Yep, one of the few airports I wouldn't mind going around again!

Just totally incorrect. The President can be giving a speech in the Rose Garden and there are still north departures. It's all based on winds or ceilings.

Also, as a GA pilot, on every single landing I make, I am mentally prepared for a go-around. Visual or instrument approach. BTW an "aborted landing" is not a phrase I use, nor is it part of the FAA vocabulary.
A go-around is not all that unusual and really is a non-event.