Go around!
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JWP1938 If the gear didn't deploy a "few feet above the runway" my heart would have been doing a lot more than pounding. Or maybe stop altogether.
One of our local umm... airlines operated a B1900 for a few days with a wonky GPWS. "Too low gear" audible to the punters on every approach
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One of our local umm... airlines operated a B1900 for a few days with a wonky GPWS. "Too low gear" audible to the punters on every approach
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Join Date: Aug 2005
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Papertiger - wow! ... have to say if I was sat up front and heard that I'd be bracing!
Had a couple of go-arounds into Krakow and Hong Kong and I have to say they were fantastic. Many of the pilots and cc on these forums will say that the are a non event and part of the job for them (which of course they are), but as a pax I found the experience incredibly enjoyable... all that power right behind you when you need it...
Deadly buzz as they would say in my town ....
Had a couple of go-arounds into Krakow and Hong Kong and I have to say they were fantastic. Many of the pilots and cc on these forums will say that the are a non event and part of the job for them (which of course they are), but as a pax I found the experience incredibly enjoyable... all that power right behind you when you need it...
Deadly buzz as they would say in my town ....
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I think i must be a bit unlucky!
I've flown on average 6-8 long haul sectors and 6 short haul sectors per year for about the last 28 years.
So far i've had 6 go arounds. 1 at VIE in torrential rain, 1 at LGW (no apparent reason!), 1 at LHR- runway not vacated, and the doozy, a 3 time go around at LHR due to gusty cross winds following a pretty turbulent approach
. The first time most pax went, oooohh, the second go, there was a fair bit of tension, especially when we felt the plane lift one wing as we were about to touch down , and by the third time when it was actually a touch down and go, there were lots of pale sweaty faces and hands clamped to the arm rests!! One poor woman who had an onward conx, was so traumatised that she offloaded herself from the onward flight, just refused to go any further, and had to be put up in a hotel over night whilst the airline worked out what to do with her.
The next flight i did, i was NOT looking forward to the landing!
I've flown on average 6-8 long haul sectors and 6 short haul sectors per year for about the last 28 years.
So far i've had 6 go arounds. 1 at VIE in torrential rain, 1 at LGW (no apparent reason!), 1 at LHR- runway not vacated, and the doozy, a 3 time go around at LHR due to gusty cross winds following a pretty turbulent approach
. The first time most pax went, oooohh, the second go, there was a fair bit of tension, especially when we felt the plane lift one wing as we were about to touch down , and by the third time when it was actually a touch down and go, there were lots of pale sweaty faces and hands clamped to the arm rests!! One poor woman who had an onward conx, was so traumatised that she offloaded herself from the onward flight, just refused to go any further, and had to be put up in a hotel over night whilst the airline worked out what to do with her. The next flight i did, i was NOT looking forward to the landing!
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In almost exactly 50 years of fairly frequent paxing, 2 GA and one that could have been but was't.
The first was in a Trident onto the now disused cross runway at Heathrow. A Handley Page Herald was landing at almost the same time on 28L (as it then was) and we gave it precedence.
The second was into Boston in thick cloud. Wheels down and full flap, then, still in the cloud, power came back on, wheels came up and flaps retracted stage by stage. Eventually, it seemed several minutes later, we broke out of the cloud and a little after that the Captain announced that one of the autoland channels was inoperative and ha could'nt see the ground in time for a manual landing. So we were going to Philadelphia instead (which pleased half the passengers as they were going there anyway). I was heading to Ottawa and eventually got there much later than I had expected.
The one that didn't happen was into Edinburgh on a very wet and windy day, before the new runway was opened. We were late out of London as the Captain didnt like the state of the tyres and had new ones fitted before we left. At Edinburgh, he came in very low and it seemed very fast over the A8, banged the wheels down hard right on the numbers, applied reverse thrust and just managed to stop before the other end of the runway.The landing was so firm that most of the overhead lockers opened themselves (but nothing fell out). The passengers gave an unprompted round of applause.
I have not, so far, experienced a rejected takeoff, although we did once get lined up on the runway and then slowly trundle back to the terminal to get something fixed. But that wasn't at all exciting.
The first was in a Trident onto the now disused cross runway at Heathrow. A Handley Page Herald was landing at almost the same time on 28L (as it then was) and we gave it precedence.
The second was into Boston in thick cloud. Wheels down and full flap, then, still in the cloud, power came back on, wheels came up and flaps retracted stage by stage. Eventually, it seemed several minutes later, we broke out of the cloud and a little after that the Captain announced that one of the autoland channels was inoperative and ha could'nt see the ground in time for a manual landing. So we were going to Philadelphia instead (which pleased half the passengers as they were going there anyway). I was heading to Ottawa and eventually got there much later than I had expected.
The one that didn't happen was into Edinburgh on a very wet and windy day, before the new runway was opened. We were late out of London as the Captain didnt like the state of the tyres and had new ones fitted before we left. At Edinburgh, he came in very low and it seemed very fast over the A8, banged the wheels down hard right on the numbers, applied reverse thrust and just managed to stop before the other end of the runway.The landing was so firm that most of the overhead lockers opened themselves (but nothing fell out). The passengers gave an unprompted round of applause.
I have not, so far, experienced a rejected takeoff, although we did once get lined up on the runway and then slowly trundle back to the terminal to get something fixed. But that wasn't at all exciting.
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In my 61 years, give or take a week or two, as SLF, I've only had one GA, and that was a double.
A squally,westerly day across the country, flying Wellington to Whanganui in an F27 (yeah, a LOOONG time ago!). First approach was good, but the a/c floated along the runway about 6-7 metres above it and would not come down. Power on, GA.
Second approach, very similar, same result.
Captain on p/a: "L & G apologies for this, but we're having a little difficulty as you can see in getting this flight to land. There's nothing wrong with the a/c other than it seems to want to keep flying, while we would prefer to land and let you passengers leaving us here get into the terminal. We'll have one more shot at it and then I'm afraid, if we don't make it down this time, we'll have to divert to New Plymouth". (our next stop) [Wording was something like that - can't remember exactly, but it was a very friendly ad lib and the skipper sounded quite relaxed]
Third approach was steeper and faster than usual with, I think, one notch less flap. Very little flare, and I swear he dropped it from about 6 feet and really stuck it onto the tarmac. A ripple of applause from the pax, then "Welcome to Wanganui - at last!" from the flight deck. Chuckles from most of the pax.
I got off at Whanganui and never did find out what the landing was like at New Plymouth.
Personal flying - a few GAs and missed approaches. One GA was a 'sheep on the runway' issue. What would you expect in NZ?
Le Vieux
A squally,westerly day across the country, flying Wellington to Whanganui in an F27 (yeah, a LOOONG time ago!). First approach was good, but the a/c floated along the runway about 6-7 metres above it and would not come down. Power on, GA.
Second approach, very similar, same result.
Captain on p/a: "L & G apologies for this, but we're having a little difficulty as you can see in getting this flight to land. There's nothing wrong with the a/c other than it seems to want to keep flying, while we would prefer to land and let you passengers leaving us here get into the terminal. We'll have one more shot at it and then I'm afraid, if we don't make it down this time, we'll have to divert to New Plymouth". (our next stop) [Wording was something like that - can't remember exactly, but it was a very friendly ad lib and the skipper sounded quite relaxed]
Third approach was steeper and faster than usual with, I think, one notch less flap. Very little flare, and I swear he dropped it from about 6 feet and really stuck it onto the tarmac. A ripple of applause from the pax, then "Welcome to Wanganui - at last!" from the flight deck. Chuckles from most of the pax.
I got off at Whanganui and never did find out what the landing was like at New Plymouth.
Personal flying - a few GAs and missed approaches. One GA was a 'sheep on the runway' issue. What would you expect in NZ?
Le Vieux
Prompted me to think about how many times I have experienced one and come up with 9 , two low vis missed approaches to Atlanta-do they count, others at LHR, Nairobi, JFK ,AMS ,BDA -2, ARN .
Only one abit scary and thatwas into Bermuda but any regular traveller there will know that very strong sw winds and a runway oriented nw-se mean a lot of 'interesting' approaches. That was quite violent manouver and at night too so no reassuring clues form the view out. In general all executed smoothly and great demonstrations of the performance of a large airliner when it isnt carrying tons and tons of fuel.
Only one RTO and that wasnt reallya 'proper' one as barely started rolling at LGW when engines cut and very rapid exit onto adjoining taxiway /holding area as a 737 seemingly landing on top of our 777 disappeared into the clouds. That did frighten me a bit in terms of what could have happened but I suspect the lander was higher than it looked and had broken off approach a bit earlier than it appeared to have as well.
PB
Only one abit scary and thatwas into Bermuda but any regular traveller there will know that very strong sw winds and a runway oriented nw-se mean a lot of 'interesting' approaches. That was quite violent manouver and at night too so no reassuring clues form the view out. In general all executed smoothly and great demonstrations of the performance of a large airliner when it isnt carrying tons and tons of fuel.
Only one RTO and that wasnt reallya 'proper' one as barely started rolling at LGW when engines cut and very rapid exit onto adjoining taxiway /holding area as a 737 seemingly landing on top of our 777 disappeared into the clouds. That did frighten me a bit in terms of what could have happened but I suspect the lander was higher than it looked and had broken off approach a bit earlier than it appeared to have as well.
PB
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Quote JWP1938 If the gear didn't deploy a "few feet above the runway" my heart would have been doing a lot more than pounding. Or maybe stop altogether. Unquote I said "At what seemed to be...." Even MY limited knowledge knows that we would be considerably higher than a few feet but I hadn't noticed the gear lowering (or not) and, as I said, I was in an aisle seat so my view was limited. I usually opt for (and get) a window seat and always avidly watch TOs and landings. In this case I could just about see some terrain outside and just assumed the gear was down and we were nearly there so the sudden engine roar and nose up came as a shock to the system.
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First go-around I experienced was in 1951 in an Argonaut at the "old" Rome airport (on the way back from Singapore) just after a massive thunderstorm. The captain didn't like the look of the amount of water.
When we eventually did land we had to stay in the aircraft for at least half an hour until they could get buses to us, there was so much water.
Since then? four I think, one of which was in a Morton Air Services Heron at Gatwick (1968).
When we eventually did land we had to stay in the aircraft for at least half an hour until they could get buses to us, there was so much water.
Since then? four I think, one of which was in a Morton Air Services Heron at Gatwick (1968).
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Mrs FF and I were on our way back from our first holiday together in November 1984. We were travelling on a Dan Air BAC 1-11 from LGW to BFS. I can't accurately remember how many go arounds we had as the pilot attempted to land - we think three. On the final attempt he told us if we didn't make it this time we were diverting to DUB. Fortunately, he managed to land. Apparently, the problem was low lying fog and the pilot said he was embarrassed to tell us a British Midland flight had made it on to the runway between our go-arounds.
Fast forward 13 or 14 years to an Embraer 145 on its approach to MAN from BHD. We were admiring aerial views of Stockport when the plane suddenly rolled violently to one side, righted itself and rolled violently the other way. It seemed to shoot up and down at the same time.
The pilot aborted the approach and climbed away. He then contacted cabin crew to see if anyone had been injured before explaining the aircraft had flown into the wake turbulence of a widebody. He said we should have been placed much further behind it. I don't know whether this counts as a go around or not as it didn't happen within feet of the runway but still very close to the airport.
Fast forward 13 or 14 years to an Embraer 145 on its approach to MAN from BHD. We were admiring aerial views of Stockport when the plane suddenly rolled violently to one side, righted itself and rolled violently the other way. It seemed to shoot up and down at the same time.
The pilot aborted the approach and climbed away. He then contacted cabin crew to see if anyone had been injured before explaining the aircraft had flown into the wake turbulence of a widebody. He said we should have been placed much further behind it. I don't know whether this counts as a go around or not as it didn't happen within feet of the runway but still very close to the airport.
In the last 10 years c. 120 flights and I've had one GA due to bad weather and a big one wheel first touch down at MAN (af). Also a birdstrike out of LPL with immediate return (ezy).
Guess I'm lucky huh. I did nearly require new trousers in both occasions!
Guess I'm lucky huh. I did nearly require new trousers in both occasions!
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Been flying on and off for around 20 years, but frequently for the last 5.
Two GAs during that time, both with BA: one at Glasgow in a 757 low visibility due to the aircraft in front not clearing the runway in time; and one at LHR on a 747 from Buenos Aires where there was an indication the gear wasn't down. Pretty calm reactions amongst the pax, although I imagine an indication of a gear problem might raise blood pressure a bit on the flightdeck ?
And one rejected take-off at Dallas on an American 767. According to the pilot a warning light indicating a tyre problem came on during the take-off roll. We did a lap of the taxiways and took off next time around - but on landing at LGW there was rather more swerving around on touchdown than usual, and the fire services came out to meet us. So maybe the warning light didn't lie...
13Alpha
Two GAs during that time, both with BA: one at Glasgow in a 757 low visibility due to the aircraft in front not clearing the runway in time; and one at LHR on a 747 from Buenos Aires where there was an indication the gear wasn't down. Pretty calm reactions amongst the pax, although I imagine an indication of a gear problem might raise blood pressure a bit on the flightdeck ?
And one rejected take-off at Dallas on an American 767. According to the pilot a warning light indicating a tyre problem came on during the take-off roll. We did a lap of the taxiways and took off next time around - but on landing at LGW there was rather more swerving around on touchdown than usual, and the fire services came out to meet us. So maybe the warning light didn't lie...
13Alpha
Paxing All Over The World
Recall being with my parents, seeing my grandmother on a VC-10 at JNB in the late 60s, I was a teenager. We stayed to watch the departure (not so long to wait in those days!) and there was an RTO from fairly good speed.
We all groaned, "Oh No, they're going to off load and we've got her back" Happily they rotated normally on the next attempt. Following an exchange of letters with gran when she got home, we got the reply, "Oh, was there something wrong? I thought they always did that." She was obviously well into the sherry ... 
We all groaned, "Oh No, they're going to off load and we've got her back"
Happily they rotated normally on the next attempt. Following an exchange of letters with gran when she got home, we got the reply, "Oh, was there something wrong? I thought they always did that." She was obviously well into the sherry ...
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Once in about 40 years of doing average two sectors a week. LH 747 into JNB, as we climbed out and banked away FO explained that there was Zambian Airways a/c on the runway on which we'd been cleared to land. Absolutely no drama at all, a total non-event.
Bottums Up
Flew as pax for first time in 1971. Learned to fly 1983, flown professionally since 1986.
As best I can recall, two go arounds as a pax, perhaps half a dozen as pilot, and one rejected take-off.
As best I can recall, two go arounds as a pax, perhaps half a dozen as pilot, and one rejected take-off.
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One GA in 40 years. Brittania 737 into Luton. Weather related, and we were warned that it may not work, and we might go to Donington. Completely unknown to us they tried again, broke out of cloud low, expected to see Donnington, but, lo and behold, Luton. Wild applause from pax, including me. [Car at Luton!] 3 RTOs, all on the same flight, Britttania 100 out of Palermo, Sicily. If CPTN is looking, it was at the last but one Targa Florio.[He'll know what that means!]
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Very enjoyable thread this, so here's my two-pennerth.
1989. Business Air Saab 340 ABZ-MAN. Very rough night, but the GA was not weather related - aircraft ahead didn't vacate in time. Rather unpleasant new approach being tossed around like a cork at sea, but second time we were in.
2002. Not exactly a GA. EasyJet 320/737 (can't remember) LPL-AGP, normal flight until approach when Captain informed us that LPL had reported tyre damage when we left. Did a low pass of the tower at AGP with gear down for a visual inspection, and then landed normally.
2005. AF 319 MAN-CDG. Rejected take off at fairly high speed. Indication of insecure hatch. Spent an hour back on stand waiting for brakes to cool down.
2006. Nok Air 734 CNX-DMK. GA I assume due to tropical squall. No word from flight deck.
1989. Business Air Saab 340 ABZ-MAN. Very rough night, but the GA was not weather related - aircraft ahead didn't vacate in time. Rather unpleasant new approach being tossed around like a cork at sea, but second time we were in.
2002. Not exactly a GA. EasyJet 320/737 (can't remember) LPL-AGP, normal flight until approach when Captain informed us that LPL had reported tyre damage when we left. Did a low pass of the tower at AGP with gear down for a visual inspection, and then landed normally.
2005. AF 319 MAN-CDG. Rejected take off at fairly high speed. Indication of insecure hatch. Spent an hour back on stand waiting for brakes to cool down.
2006. Nok Air 734 CNX-DMK. GA I assume due to tropical squall. No word from flight deck.
Last edited by TG345; 11th Sep 2010 at 09:49.
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- One GA in FCO due to fog while landing on 16L. Landed later on 16R.
- One RTO in FRA at low speed (Lined up, brake applied, engine spool up, first increase of power, brake release, power thrust, no power and brake applied again). All I noticed was an aircraft landing a few second later in front of us.
- One diversion due to fog (from VCE to VRN)
- One low pass for gear extension check (AMS)
Ciao
Ulxima
- One RTO in FRA at low speed (Lined up, brake applied, engine spool up, first increase of power, brake release, power thrust, no power and brake applied again). All I noticed was an aircraft landing a few second later in front of us.
- One diversion due to fog (from VCE to VRN)
- One low pass for gear extension check (AMS)
Ciao
Ulxima