Goaround in ATH becomes news story
Interesting story, caused by an AF A320 aborted landing / goaround in Athens, on Dec. 4th, with the leader of the opposition on board. This has been making news (relatively speaking) in Greece during the last few days, so I thought I'd give a summary here. Seems like a combination of misinformation on the part of the pilot, hype, and probably genuine worry on the part of the average passenger who doesn't know that much when it comes to such procedures.
From Friday's press
Goaround causes concern:
An AF A320 flight (AF332) from Paris to Athens, with the leader of the opposition onboard (K. Karamanlis of the ND party) executed a goaround, causing alarm to the passengers.
In my own free translation, articles from greek newspapers describe Mr. Karamanlis and the other passengers as "worried but not alarmed" after the plane pulled up moments before touching the ground. A few minutes later though, the pilot announced that he had to abort because "there was a piece of machinery or other object on the runway", when he spoke in french, and "another plane on the runway", when he spoke in english, according to several passengers.
After this, the ND party spokesman asked for the matter to be investigated, because "if the pilot's allegations are true, it is a serious matter". The greek Civil Aviation Authority (YPA), on its part, said that there were no objects on the runway, and that the AF pilot chose to goaround because apparently he was coming too high in his approach. Although the incident will be investigated, "it would not have became a news story, were it not for the leader of the opposition's presence on the plane".
From Satruday's and Sunday's press
Pilot appologizes:
From the investigation carried out by YPA and the transcript of the tape recordings of the communications between the control tower and the pilot, it turns out that there was indeed no object or plane on the landing runway. According to YPA's announcement, the A320 was on a normal approach to land. "While the aircraft was at an altitude of 200 ft above the runway and with a speed of 128 mi/hr, the pilot initiated a goaround on his own initiative. On the control towers asking, the pilot attributed his goaround to an "unstabilized approach" ."
The AF pilot issued an appology yesterday for the upset he caused by the way he handled the goaround. In his statement he admited that there was no object or other plane on the runway.