Reading some of the posts here on this tread, I really really hope that I never ever get to ride as a passenger with some of you posters up front.
I will admit that I have zero experience on both Boeing and Airbus liners or for that matter any other make of civilian airliner, but If any of the posters I refer to, seriously consider a go around, before or after touchdown, a difficult, complicated and stressful maneuver, they are in the wrong place and in my humble opinion there is no room for them in the cockpit. None what so ever!
A go around prior to contact with the runway should be as natural as changing your descent to a climb. A go around after touchdown should be considered as nothing more than a take-off with a head start. Oh yes some will argue, but the airliner is a complicated and automated machine. It needs to have this and that switch pressed and you need to raise the gear and the flaps, and you need to let tower know, and you need this and that…
No you don’t! Aviate – Navigate – Communicate. Fly your aircraft first and foremost, be that full manual or full automatic mode, I don’t care, but you better know your systems if you relay on automation. And you better be able to hand fly the thing if you chose to go manual or even worse, if you are forced to do so due to system malfunction. You actually don’t need to retract the gear right away, and you don’t need to retract the flaps either. If in doubt, keep the configuration as it is and fly the aircraft. You can always fly a full pattern in the configuration you had 1 second prior to landing and the same goes for 1 second after.
Once the aircraft is fully established in the climb, and your attitude, altitude and speed is under control, then go ahead raise the gear and flaps, follow your missed approach procedure (navigate) and let tower know (communicate). And you know what, even if you manage to overspeed the gear or the flaps, or even both, you won’t turn into a pumpkin. But you will, and that is guaranteed, turn into a pumpkin, if you stall or CFIT while not aviating.
Sure enough, you might have to explain to the company chief pilot why and how you ended up without your gear doors or with overstressed flaps, but then be a man and tell him how it is his responsibility to make sure that the company policy ensures all pilots are fully able to tackle a simple scenario like a go around.
I can continue with this all day, but I think I have made my point.
I don’t blame the Emirates 777 crew. They did not board that aircraft with the intention to crash. It’s the responsibility of their company to provide them with adequate and repeated training both flying and knowing the systems, and it is the regulators responsibility to verify and ensure that the company meets these requirements.
But I blame this crew for not having enough insight as to know about their own limitations and abilities. And I blame them for not having enough integrity to just elect not to fly and endanger themselves and hundreds of pax, until fully qualified.
Some of you will argue that it’s all about the money and that one has to make a living. Seriously, are you really that desperate that you are willing to risk your life (and mine too)?
My speed over the threshold is usually between 150-160 knots, but occasionally, due to circumstances beyond my control, it will be as fast as 190 knots. I don’t have some guy next to me monitoring all my actions and taking care of the comms and setting up the ILS. I don’t have all the automation to keep my speed within limits. I raise and lover my flap and gear all by myself. But I cope, and I have never feared a go-around. Why? Because I practice. And because I study and I know my systems. I am prepared! And sure I make mistakes, but most of those happened in a controlled environment (something called training), those that happen on real missions are only minor, and usually I catch those and stop them from snowballing on me. And if they start snowballing, so what, I go around and try again.
What I wrote here is nothing new. It is old news. It was already old news 20 years ago. Do not continue to make the same mistake over and over again. Especially not while I’m in the back of your aircraft!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN41LvuSz10
If you consider yourself a professional then you better act like one.
Seeya