There's a plane on my runway !

[Cairomac]

A couple of months ago I was on a KLM flight from AMS - IAH. As we were landing the pilot pulled back sharply and did a loop to land again, explaining that there was a plane on our runway :eek: We were literally 5 to 10 seconds from touchdown (I counted back on the second landing)

I guess this is not common (1st for me in many years, very many flights), does this go down as a near miss ? I know in my industry (Oil & Gas) the HSE police would be all over us !

[static]

No, this is not a near miss!
And since we practice the loop with a 747-400 on short final on a regular basis, there was absolutely no danger to anyone :)

[spekesoftly]

It is not uncommon for aircraft to execute a 'missed approach' or 'go-around'. This can be for a number of reasons, but is often because a preceding landing or departing aircraft is still using the runway. Correctly handled by both pilots and ATC, it is a safe procedure and would not normally be classified as a near miss, or Airprox.


static - I trust you are referring to a 'loop' in the horizontal plane! :D

[ 08 November 2001: Message edited by: spekesoftly ]

[PAXboy]

The answer is Yes, entirely routine. Most of the busy runways have a landing/departure every 60 seconds or so. In the case you decribe, the previous aircraft may have missed the exit ramp from the runway that it was expected to take. This means it has to taxi on to the next and then turn off. If that takes even 20 seconds, the gap is reduced and the next aircraft must go around.

Flight crew practice for this all the time and it happens every so often. The flight crew must enter the reason in the log but, for the most part, it is no cause for concern. In fact, the safety folks would only be involved if the pilot did NOT go around.

In 35 years as a passenger, I have never had one of these.

Incidentally, the jargon for what you experienced is 'a go round'. If he had really done a 'loop' and landed, you WOULD have had the 'police' out to you! As well as the fire truck and ambulance! :D

[Denti]

In our company we have to file an air safety report for every go-around, but thats better than landing on another plane :D

[Cairomac]

Thanks all for the reponses and education on correct terminology. Absolutely correct, the aircraft did not loop !

On a side note, my fingers are crossed for the aviation industry. You're all going through a very rough time right now. I for one, won't give in to the terrorists and will continue to fly whenever required ...... and enjoy it !

[SevenFiftySeven.]

Talking in go arounds, I had never experienced one in my 4 years of flying international every month or so, until I caught the United Express shuttle from O'Hare to Oshkosh the day before EAA (the very large, week long airshow in Oshkosh)

We were on a small commuter aircraft that had to do 3 go arounds due to traffic on or near the runway :D
The funniest thing was as the aircraft has an open cockpit (it only has 20 or so seats), everytime the pilot initiated the go around, you could hear various 'pings' from the cockpit. The woman in front of me was practically freaking out, thinking we were all going to die.

It's never happend to me on a big jet yet though.

[Intruder]

I've done 2 go-arounds for airplanes on the runway as a pilot in a 747 in the past year (ORD and SFO, both directed by tower), and 2 as a pax (both at LAX). Some people are lucky, I guess...

[paulo]

The other go around option, rather than looping, is to overfly r/way level full power, pull up to stall turn and then have a go at it from the other direction.

Needless to say this applies to low or lateral wind conditions, FIS or lower control status and a good lookout/traffic awareness. Even with all that covered, speed control is a bit tricky. :-)

[glider insider]

Paulo,
why not just approach from the other direction in the first place/ any traffic on the runway seeing a 747 coming towards them is unlikely to hang around for long..