BA463 Go-Around this evening
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 36
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From: near BHX
BA463 Go-Around this evening
I'm well aware that go-arounds happen for all sorts of reasons, and they're about as exceptional as rain on a winter's day. I'm hardly a frequent flyer (certainly less than five hundred flights over my life) but I've experienced three or four. Engines spool up, plane heads upwards, people at the front of the plane do their job.
But so I can sound all knowledgeable for my daughter, who was onboard, can anyone say in layman's language why BA463 went around this evening? I see from Flight Radar 24 that it went around, I think from 27L, from about 500 feet and 135 knots at 20:00 UTC. I would guess that the plane in front was slow to clear, but FR24 is a bit unreliable at that granulariy (it shows the plane first approaching 27L, going around, and then making a second approach on a parallel track slightly to the north slap into the terminal buildings, which I presume didn't happen) and it's a little hard to tell.
But so I can sound all knowledgeable for my daughter, who was onboard, can anyone say in layman's language why BA463 went around this evening? I see from Flight Radar 24 that it went around, I think from 27L, from about 500 feet and 135 knots at 20:00 UTC. I would guess that the plane in front was slow to clear, but FR24 is a bit unreliable at that granulariy (it shows the plane first approaching 27L, going around, and then making a second approach on a parallel track slightly to the north slap into the terminal buildings, which I presume didn't happen) and it's a little hard to tell.
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 17,688
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From: Reading, UK
You will get a better picture of events from Heathrow's own WebTrak system: WebTrak
Your flight was fairly close behind the preceding one, BA759 from Bergen, so the latter may well have been slow to clear the runway. BA463 was a 767, one of the BA ones that don't send particularly accurate ADS-B data because they don't have GPS, which is why the track appeared offset on FR24. WebTrak, which is radar-driven, doesn't suffer from that problem.
Your flight was fairly close behind the preceding one, BA759 from Bergen, so the latter may well have been slow to clear the runway. BA463 was a 767, one of the BA ones that don't send particularly accurate ADS-B data because they don't have GPS, which is why the track appeared offset on FR24. WebTrak, which is radar-driven, doesn't suffer from that problem.
Joined: Dec 1999
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From: EGNX
From that height it is past the point (1000ft) where stable approach criteria must be met. Beyond that by far the most likely reason at LHR is aircraft in front slow to clear. The other possibility is the flight becoming unstable and deemed to stay unstable but that is usually in very windy conditions. The other outside chance is a windshear warning, but I don't think there were any storms around on that night.
