I think I cheesed off Gloucester tower yesterday for going around
 

Hello , I am a student Pilot.

Yesterday I did two landings with my instructor, then he proceeded to taxi to the pumps to let me loose on my own. As I took off and climbed upwind, turbulence got worse. got to finals, then went around because there was an aircraft on the runway still at 300'.

On final again, went around about 400' because there was an aircraft on the runway and turbulence was bad and my profile was not good, I banged my head on the ceiling causing me to go dizzy. I called going around, and the tower said "is there a problem?" I said "aircraft on the runway", to which I was told "you could have made it you had 1/4 mile".

I thought to myself "this is too rough for me" so I called downwind to land.

Tower then rang my school and apparently asked if I was nervous!

What did I do wrong here?
Help.:ugh:

Nothing at all Glasswasher, if you're not happy with your approach then go around and have another go. :ok:

The fact that you made the decision to go around twice because you were not happy to continue shows that you are not prepared to take unnecessary risks and have the presence and maturity to make the correct choice.

I did one recently, a go around that is, for the same reason, an aeroplane still on the runway, and I've got over 18,000 hours and fly B767s. It still happens from time to time.

Of course I had to explain to the passengers what was going on but all you need to say to the tower is exactly what you posted. An aeroplane was still on the runway and you weren't happy to continue.

Good luck with the rest of your training.

Regards,
BH.

I went around on my first solo. Go around if you aint happy.The other thread showing the video of the twin coming to rest on the beech instead of the runway is proof of that!

You did nothing wrong, save perhaps not having your lapstrap done up tightly enough.

You were Captain, made a decision, the aircraft didn't get bent, therefore it was a good decision.

The tower can authorise you to land, but ultimately it's your decision and they have no right to second guess it unless they think you are bringing the aircraft into danger, which you weren't.

They'll get over it, debrief with your instructor then carry on and get your licence without worrying about this after that.

G

did the right thing
 

The question from the tower sounds a bit cheeky - you were the commander of the acft and you made a decision on the basis of your judgement of your capability in the circumstances.

Being pressured into making the wrong decision can be fatal.

You did the right thing

Agree with all of the above...Student pilot or not, you were the aircraft Commander and for whatever reason you decided not to land...what is really important now is not to dwell on this "incident". Whatever you do, do not let ATC's comments on the R/T or their phone call influence any future decisions you have to make.

Do you happen know what your school/instructor said to ATC? ( I know what I would have said :mad:)

Oh, and you might want to consider having your harness done up a bit tighter.

Like the others, I can't see that you did anything wrong. I am curious, though, what the tower controller was thinking of. What sort of landing clearance did he give? Did he advise you of the other aircraft and give a conditional landing clearance (eg. a "land after")?

You did the right thing. As for the tower controller, well, I wasn't there but....

In the old days, many controllers also flew and could appreciate what you might be going through. Early solo or not, a bumpy day present one more challenge to deal with. As wiggy says, it would be good to know what your school said to ATC. Maybe it would be good if the school spent a bit of time working with ATC (or, at least, having a chat with the boss) to ensure that the controllers appreciate the students' side of things.

I'm afraid you'll never stop the controller saying "you could have made it you had 1/4 mile" - controllers are like that! - but hopefully he or she will do it under their breath rather than on the R/T.

But relax, its your decision - and its better to go-around once or twice when it wasn't really necessary than to persevere when its all going to pieces or to just keep putting off the decision.

I'm the Head of Operations (and an ATCO and a PPL)

I'll have a chat with the team when I'm back in the office tomorrow and let you know the full story.

You definitely didn't do anything wrong by going around. Can you PM with your callsign and a rough idea of the time?

Full marks for good airmanship and command.

If you had continued the approach you might have regretted it for the rest of your life. Who cares what anyone else thinks? Being in command is not a popularity contest!

Good decisionmaking.

If ATC actually said "you could have made it you had 1/4 mile" they were way out of order. It is your decision.

Always keep decisionmaking in the cockpit.

You did everything 100%, agree with all that has been said. You made the proper decision(s) and the aeroplane is still in service.... the amount of times we see aircraft gear (and worse) damaged by pilots who try and get it on the deck at all cost.... you made the correct call... have a talk with your instructor and both of you could have a chat with the ATCO and see what he says.

The ATCO was totally out of order in my opinion. Correct me if I'm wrong but 1/4 mile is 402 metres? I have a 610kg taildragger on a 620 metre strip & I often use most of it!! You made the right decision, twice.

Not the controllers job to speculate. You made your decision...well done.


EW ATCO not Pilot:ok:

G-washer man: Don't beat yourself up: you made the correct decisions and you are here to prove it.

Don't ever be intimidated in this kind of situation: even though you're very early in your training you have learnt enough to deal quite correctly with a situation that was outside your comfort zone.

I do hope matspart3 is as good as his word and gets back to you with his considered analysis.

If he feels he can share it with the rest of us, so much the better.

Cusco.

Late go around
 

Glos was the the first stop on my QXC about 3 ys ago.I had received 'expect late clearance to land', when on final when I could see a yellow bipe lined up.I was getting closer and closer and I decided to iniatiate a go around-I reckon you made a good decision,it is always your option to land or not, once cleared.
Well done you
MM

I think I cheesed off Gloucester tower yesterday for going around

On a lighter note, and observing that you went around twice, presumably this was a "Double Gloucester"!:ok:

Jack

I will be interested to see the final reply from Matspart3, I think all on here are off the opinion that the only fault here was ATC for his comment to you, keep up this performance:ok:

There is no question that you did what is right for you by going around. It depends a lot on your level of experience at how late a landing clearance you can comfortably take and especially with someone in early solo work you have to be comfortable and only do what is right for you. Anything else is asking for an accident.

Reading between the lines you mentioned that ATC asked if you were nervous and if there was a problem. You also mentioned banging your head and going dizzy.

When it is turbulent your transmit finger can bounce on the transmit button making the transmissions cut and even your voice can falter couple that with feeling dizzy and its possible that ATC picked up something in your voice and were just concerned that you were OK and didnt need any special handling.

Take it in a positive way as a good learning experience in fairly rough conditions and be pleased with the descisions you made

Pace

Did you make clear that you were a student pilot, on an early (first?) solo? Never been to Gloucester in particular, but I know a lot of experienced controllers at towered fields with a lot of GA traffic are very good at judging the performance of their home-based GA and will sometimes sequence traffic very close behind each other.

It's tight, but if you're at 1/4 mile final while another aircraft commences the take-off roll, it may all just come together, with you landing just as the others' wheels leave the runway. But that all depends on the relative performance of the aircraft involved, runway length and so forth. And it requires some experience (or nerves of steel) on the aircraft on final - getting a landing clearance at a mere 10' above the runway.

If you have somehow come across over the radio as more experienced than you really are, the tower may have judged your abilities a bit too optimistic. As an early (first) solo student, you definitely made the right decision, and the tower should not have expected you to be comfortable so close behind a departing aircraft, particulary not in bumpy conditions.

As for the tower calling the school, there's absolutely no harm in that. It may just have been a heads-up to the school, warning them that a student in one of their aircraft has made a go-around twice and possibly sounds a bit nervous. You would not be the first student who needs some reassuring words from a familiar, friendly and calm instructor over the radio to settle some nerves.

At the end of the day, remember ATC works for you, and not the other way around.