upup&away
4th Dec 2006, 20:58
I fly regularly to BKK and last year i was travelling with Thai on a 747-400 when after an apparently flawless landing,( i felt like the wheels touched down) there was an almighty roar and the plane took off on a touch and go.The thrust and lift was unbelievable and many passengers were hysterical and crying.When we reached a holding pattern some 6/7 mins later the pilot announced that the runway wasnt clear for landing!! WTF-400 passengers on a 747 and the runway not clear? Was this explaination bull**** or do you have any other theories? I would love to know what really caused the touch and go. Thanks
TightSlot
4th Dec 2006, 21:32
As long as you're a brand new PPRuNer, you'd be well advised to use some form of euphemism rather than spelling out profanity. You'll also find that a small amount of searching and researching on the subjet of go-arounds will enable you to ask the question in a more informed manner
Tarq57
5th Dec 2006, 01:23
Unusual, but possible, if, for example, there was an aircraft/vehicle moving on to/ encroaching the runway. Usually, go arounds occur prior to the threshold, but if something started to move on to the runway subsequently, or the pilot or controller noticed the encroachment later than normal, that could easily explain the late overshoot. Generally aircraft can overshoot right down to touchdown, and, depending on the runway length/weight etc, for a short time afterward. The event you describe should be no cause for the level of alarm described, but pax can be a sensitive lot. I would think- not being an airline pilot myself- that it would be too late for an overshoot in most situations once the brakes were on and reverse thrust operating.
In this case, whatever the reason, the pilot appeared to take the safer of the options available. Try writing to Thai and ask for an explanation.