It just gets better and better. Now I know why I always cock up missed approaches in the sim..... the aircraft "has lost all of its aerodynamic performance" and it is a "very difficult if not a dangerous manoeuvre". Well, I won't be going around again now that I know this! Press on and land....
From The Sunday Herald:
Call for investigation of plane incident
February 15, 2004 - 1:14PM
An incident at Brisbane airport in which a Qantas pilot aborted a landing at the last minute should be fully investigated, federal MP Bob Katter said today.
The Queensland independent MP and opposition frontbencher Wayne Swan were passengers on the 737 aircraft flying from Sydney to Brisbane on Friday with about 150 passengers on board.
"It was a very bad situation and someone has a lot of questions to answer," Mr Katter said.
Mr Katter said he would be demanding a full investigation when Federal Parliament sat this week.
Some reports have said the pilot was forced to apply power to the aircraft engines and "go around" because there was another aircraft on the runway.
But both Qantas and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) have denied another aircraft was involved.
"The pilot had not received final clearance to land and in accordance with Qantas procedures applied power and went around again," Qantas spokesman Simon Rushton said.
"There was no other aircraft involved, there was no near miss and there is nothing to investigate."
An ATSB official said while there was an incident at the airport no other aircraft was involved.
He said the ATSB would examine radar tapes and tapes of conversations at the time of the incident, which appeared to be a "complete non-event".
"It seems the aircraft went around again but until we examine the tapes we won't know the exact reason," he said.
The spokesman said all pilots were trained to go around if they were not happy with the conditions for landing.
A spokesman for Airservices Australia, which handles air traffic control, said there had never been any danger of a collision and dismissed newspaper reports of a near miss.
He said the pilot of the 737 had had trouble getting clearance to land because of the number of other radio transmissions from other aircraft.
"The pilot then made the decision to go around," he said.
"As far as Airservices Australia is concerned this is a standard operation and there were no aircraft separation issues."
Mr Swan said the pilot of the Qantas plane had told passengers there was another aircraft on the runway.
"I only know what the pilot told passengers, and that was that (aborting the landing) was because there was another plane on the runway," Mr Swan said.
"There was no panic on the plane, and I had no sense of danger."
Mr Katter said it did not matter whether there was another aircraft involved or not.
"We were just on the point of the rubber (tyres) hitting the tarmac but instead of putting the plane down the pilot put the accelerator down," Mr Katter said.
"The aircraft had lost all of its aerodynamic performance and this would have been a very difficult if not a dangerous manoeuvre."
"It really scared me."