Missed Approaches
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Missed Approaches
I know these occur far more frequently that we think but how many would you expect in the average day (no extreme weather) at somewhere busy like Gatwick or Heathrow?
I know these occur far more frequently than we think but how many would you expect in the average day (no extreme weather) at somewhere busy like Gatwick or Heathrow?
It's not unknown to see two or more consecutive GAs (there were 4 in a row Wednesday before last). Equally, there can be long periods without one - Heathrow rarely has "average" days.
The conventional wisdom is that fewer GAs than at present would mean that ATC wasn't trying hard enough.
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Presumably just from aircraft having not cleared the runway in time when they are closely spaced?
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I've been noticing more at Gatwick, but it's just that - noticing. I think it's because with the better weather we have the window open in the office and you don't tend to not notice them when they go missed at 2km from the threshold! Of the ones I noticed today there was Hi Fly's A330 (first heavy I've seen go missed and you really know about it!) and an Air One A320. I was just curious as as far as I could observe the weather wasn't a factor.
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I probably average about 5 to 7 missed approaches a year, although I fly into some pretty remote places with limited weather information so that number is much higher than the average pilot flying in major centres.
I actually went around a day ago for my 6th time this year because an aircraft had failed to vacate the runway and we were just descending through 150 feet above ground.
Go Arounds and Missed Approaches are standard procedures that should give no cause for alarm. If anything it should prove that your crew wants to get home just as much as you do by not wanting to take unnecessary risk.
Can they be done wrong. Sure - but thats why in simulator training almost every approach ends in a missed approach. I average 1 landing for every 4 approaches in the sim. For my last recurrent training, this was day 1 as taken from my notes:
1. Normal multi-engine missed off an NDB approach
2. Normal multi-engine missed and given an engine fire during gear retraction from an RNAV approach
3. Single engine missed from an ILS
4. Landing from an ILS to minimums
So hopefully you see that its a normal procedure that we train for and that at the end of the day if you're in an aircraft that is in a missed, it means your crew is looking out for your best interests!
I actually went around a day ago for my 6th time this year because an aircraft had failed to vacate the runway and we were just descending through 150 feet above ground.
Go Arounds and Missed Approaches are standard procedures that should give no cause for alarm. If anything it should prove that your crew wants to get home just as much as you do by not wanting to take unnecessary risk.
Can they be done wrong. Sure - but thats why in simulator training almost every approach ends in a missed approach. I average 1 landing for every 4 approaches in the sim. For my last recurrent training, this was day 1 as taken from my notes:
1. Normal multi-engine missed off an NDB approach
2. Normal multi-engine missed and given an engine fire during gear retraction from an RNAV approach
3. Single engine missed from an ILS
4. Landing from an ILS to minimums
So hopefully you see that its a normal procedure that we train for and that at the end of the day if you're in an aircraft that is in a missed, it means your crew is looking out for your best interests!
