A380 low pass or go-around?
 

http://youtu.be/lE_aVsPs4Sw

It turns out it was a go-around.

From Transport Canada daily occurrence reports:

A British Airways Airbus A380-800 (G-XLEH / BAW5VY) from London, England (EGLL) to Vancouver, BC (CYVR) elected to go around at 0221Z due to an aircraft handling issue. The aircraft was vectored for approach and landed without further incident at 0236Z. There was no operational impact.

Why on earth would he make an intentional 'low pass' at YVR? What a ridiculous opinion to have, made only worse by an irrational desire to post such rubbish.

He flared too high and the power came off too late. He was going to land long so he went around. Absolutely the correct thing to do and certainly not deserving of the drivelling speculation you postulate.

Because, BA doing low-passes over a random Canadian airport, is common these days?

I'm sure that Nigel was thinking 'I hope there's a plane spotter that's going to get some good video footage of me today - how cool will I look doing a low pass after a Trans Atlantic crossing'

Pontius had it right, methinks....

Lost in Saigon, looking at your profile, you are obviously a B777 airline pilot in your own little fantasy world. You have made that abundantly clear from your ridiculous post! Oh, and it's also neither a rumour nor news!

What is the issue-the PIC elected this as the correct procedure-landed normally. Well done.

HT
You need to do some research before you come out with this sort of comment.

One things for sure if he/she had landed and managed to stop OK after that float it would at the very least have been a no tea no biscuits interview....

Yep...

TANUA, so should you! If you check the times you will note that the O/P changed his post before you read it. And it's still neither Rumours nor News!

Not news? An A380 floating down the runway in a mishandled approach that looks almost like a low pass is news in my opinion. Transport Canada also made it "news" by including it in their Daily Occurrence Report.

CADORS: Report

Lost in Saigon:

Actually, I quite agree with you. It IS news. Had this happened at LHR then it would have been plastered all over the UK media "News".

However, you have to realise that the Nigels can do no wrong and they will do everything they can to close ranks and try to persuade the rest of the world that such events are quite normal.

Now, I have absolutely no criticism of the captain's decision to make a go around from such a situation. Having floated halfway down the Vancouver runway, to try and continue with a bad situation could surely have been catastrophic so he (or she) did absolutely the right thing.

Surely the big question is why did they get into this situation in the first place in what must be the most automated and expensive bit of kit in the skies?

Now THAT would be of great interest to the rest of us if for no other reason than to stop the rest of us from getting into the same situation.

To say that indulging in visual circuit training in an A380 at YVR is a "non event" is surely somewhat disingenuous?

Hmmm. An airport like Heathrow, for example, gets around 50 GAs every month, with roughly a quarter of those attributed to unstable approaches.

GoPros at the ready, chaps ...

LiA, as the experienced pilot that you are, you of all people should know how many GAs there are around the world every day for a variety of reasons. The crew did what they had to do and did it professionally. So, no, it's most definitely not news.

The approach into YVR can be quite spectacular. Can't blame anyone for wanting to do it twice ...

This not one of those GA's that are done every day around the world. This particular GA is unique in that it was initiated very late in a botched landing flare. Yes the crew did the right thing but it is something that has never been seen on video and something you may never see again. That makes it newsworthy.

Quote""The approach into YVR can be quite spectacular. Can't blame anyone for wanting to do it twice"" ........that's funny

Yeah mate,totally agree.Not a hard approach by any means,winds can be a little pesky,but the scenery on a clear blue day is awesome.

The announcement to the pax might have been interesting as would the faces of the cabin crew when no positive contact was made with terra firma from being so low.

Loads of late GA videos to watch on a well known site. They happen, and they happen for a variety of reasons best known to the guys/girls up front who made the approach. I'd be more concerned with a "botched" GA rather than a perfectly well executed one, whatever the reason for making it.

<<An airport like Heathrow, for example, gets around 50 GAs every month, with roughly a quarter of those attributed to unstable approaches.>>

Interesting. During 31 years working at Heathrow I do not recall any go-around attributable to an unstable approach. I just wonder where these stats come from?

Heathrow publish GA stats in their annual Flight Performance Report:

http://www.heathrow.com/file_source/...eport_2015.pdf

They don't break down instances by category, so I'm reading across from the corresponding LGW stats where they do, hence my use of "roughly".