Thomson 767 GA at Gatwick today?

[vancouv]

While sitting in the garden of my office around 13.00, I noticed a Thomson 767 inbound from Malaga in an unusual place near Gatwick. Quick check on FR24 showed it appeard to have done a missed approach. As these are relatively unusual I just wondered if anyone knew what the reason was?

[Dan Dare]

As these are relatively unusual I just wondered if anyone knew what the reason was?

I expect Gatwick has upwards of half a dozen missed approaches a week - it is a symptom of squeezing the traffic so tight that there is only a matter of seconds between a scenario working and not. Sometimes for various reasons the runway is not available to land and someone has to go around. I don't suppose anyone who knows is going to tell you why a particular Thomson went around, but the odds are in no particular order:

Runway closed
Pilot forgot to do something he should have
Pilot did something he shouldn't have
Previous lander slow to vacate with something already lined up on the runway
Controller tried to squeeze off another departure and ran out of time
Arriving aircraft did not comply with speed control and ran out of time
Previous pilot flew ever so slowly and eroded the gap without the controllers doing anything about it
Etc.

[DaveReidUK]

I expect Gatwick has upwards of half a dozen missed approaches a week

512 in 2014, so around 10 a week, roughly 1 in every 250 arrivals.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Right, missed approaches are far from unusual.

[chevvron]

Practicing for when DFS take over ATC.