Arrakis,
I do not know if trial approach is an official term, but it is widely repeated and discussed and seems to be in common usage, meaning going through the landing procedure to DH and then deciding depending on what is happening.
I do not think ATC can order a go round just due to a lack of readbacks. What has been mentioned by military flight controllers is that they would have probably found a way to make a regular Russian Airforce plane, not a Polish Airforce plane carrying the President, respond, even if it would have involved liberal usage of four-letter words - especially in the case of things going wrong.
P.S. Which legal flight rules apply in this case seems have been a subject of great debate. The Russian military rules do not apply to foreign aircraft, the civil aviation rules do not apply to a military airfield etc.
Last edited by vorra; 28th Jun 2010 at 16:09.