PsiFighter37

OverTheHorizon

We came over yesterday from KEF on UA139 into EAR.

I was sitting in 20F looking out of the window.

We were on short finals (past the stadium) when 2 things happened simultaneously:

1. The engines throttled up and we went around
2. I saw the puff of smoke from the tires of a regional jet as it touched down on rwy 11 😮

Now, I appreciate:

(a) GA is a routine manoeuvre , everyone got home safely, flight crew did a great professional job yada-yada...
(b) as SLF we know nothing and in any case looking out of the side window doesn't tell you much 😏

BUT

when we came in again (same approach) the time from me seeing the rwy 11 threshold (i.e. roughly the same position as I was when I saw the smoke the 1st time) and our wheels making contact with the ground was < 10s !!

So that 1st traffic conflict seemed quite a close call...

We have no laptop with us so can't view the playback on planefinder ATM but would be interested for others to do so and comment...

WineCountryUA

Does look like a go around, from FlightAware

appears also the original flight plan had been from the south but a wind change probably shifted

hscottm

OverTheHorizon

I definitely wasn't hallucinating: had to be sober and well rested yesterday afternoon to subsequently drive the rental car down to Philly

WineCountryUA

appears you got as low as at least 350 feet, then pulled up pretty quick

LarryJ

The RJ landing on Rwy 11 likely never reached the intersection of your landing runway, Rwy 22L.

The ATC requires the first landing aircraft to clear the intersection before the second landing aircraft reaches the beginning of the runway.

They routinely run this very close to maximize the acceptance rate of the airport. The option to send either of the two aircraft around provides the safe backup plan when the timing doesn't work out. There is no "close call" involved.

TomMM

For a situation like this, is the published missed approached used or will ATC issue vectors?

LarryJ

It depends on the approach clearance that was given to the airplane that is sent around.

If he was cleared for an instrument approch, i.e. ILS 22L, then there is a published missed approach procedure. If he was cleared for a visual approach then there is not one.

In either case, EWR tower will assign a heading and altitude. Their airspace is too busy to have airplanes flying the published missed. This would be true for all large airports and most smaller ones with control towers.

DCA writer

It felt like UA 810 DCA-ORD this morning had ATC order a go-around and then undo that instruction--first the engines cranked up and we pitched upwards, then the engines eased back and we pitched down suddenly enough that somebody seated behind me gasped. (My 9yo, meanwhile, said "whee!" as if we were on a roller coaster.) But the FlightAware track doesn't show any of this, and the pilots didn't come on the P/A system to explain what had happened.

ajGoes

Most likely, the airplane had dropped below the glideslope, so the pilot added power to get back onto it.

Kevin AA

That happened to me when one time in the mid 1980's. If headwinds were blowing but then stop (but not wind shear), then the pilots need more thrust to keep the plane going, or for whatever reason you are too low and need to climb to stay on track.

LarryJ

That's not unusual when there are strong winds. Also, when flying over different ground materials, i.e. pavement, fields, water, etc., there will be areas where the air is sinking and other areas where it is rising. As you go through these alternating areas of sink and lift you will have to make pitch and power adjustments to hold your glidepath and airspeed. This can also result in a brief, rapid, increase in power just before the flare which might make you think that you are starting a go-around when it's just a quick correction for an area of sinking air.

aindfan

My first ever go-around was in the middle of July of this year on a late night UA flight from IAH to DFW. As a passenger, everything felt totally normal: I didn't realize what was happening until the ground started moving away from us much faster than it should during an approach. I'm sure the pilots were super busy, but I was expecting a more exciting experience as a passenger! The pilots announced that ATC was concerned with spacing to the aircraft that landed ahead of us, so they had us go around (maybe the other aircraft lingered on the runway for too long).

757FO

Folks,

This may have been addressed earlier in the thread, but just in case it was not. Go-arounds are a perfectly safe maneuver, and one we train for extensively. The same applies to an RTO (rejected take-off).

Happy to answer any questions.