Presto2,

Aborted landings are more commonly known as 'go-arounds'. They occur for many reasons and are there as a safety procedure when it's not safe to conduct the landing. Although the actual procedure for commencing a go-around is routine (ie the standard procedure when a safe landing cannon be made for whatever reason), they only occur when they are necassary. They aren't routine in that sense. For example the approach was unstable or landing clearance wasn't given because another aircraft (or vehicle) in front hadn't vacated the runway in time. They are the most common. They happen on a daily basis around the world, but aren't all that common. I've witness maybe 10 go-arounds in about 5 years. You got your reason for the go-around; an obstruction on the runway. You can imagine what might have happened if the aircraft hit something like a dog on the runway at speed. Not only would the dog have likely been killed, the aircraft could have sustained damaged so better to execute a go-around and try again when it's safe to do so. They're nothing to worry about, there's always a reason for a go-around and safety comes first. Cabin crew will generally tell you it's 'routine' so as not to panic people and to be honest, they'll only know the flight deck are executing a go-around. They won't know the reason until an announcement is made or they are informed by the flights deck.

Darren

Hi,

Thanks for that info - I know that we have some 'experts' re flying on here and was curious!

As you can imagine we flew a week after the incident in New York and the day after the wheel collapsed in London! I'm not the world's most confident flier but know that there are some folk worse than me!!! It was rather unnerving ----- to say the least!

Must admit on our return journey last night the Stewardess seemed surprised that we'd had an aborted landing --- she'd over heard a number of passengers mentioning it! I think the crew had a cabin full of edgy passengers !

I can see why you say it is 'routine' but, to be honest we thought at the time that the announcement was more of a message to stop everyone panicing and weren't too sure how accurate it was! I do think that we take the skill of the crew for granted and when things like this happens it really makes you realise just how much we depend on their skill and experience!

Oh well --- have hopefully done my aborted landing now and so all can be calm in August!!!!!

Thanks again

Presto2,

When you don't know what's going on, doesn't matter what it is, it always puts you on edge. Even frequent fliers may not realise what's going on and the vast majority of passengers will never experience a go-around. You are privallidged in that respect! When you are expecting to land and you hear the engines spool and you start climbing again, unless you know that you are experiencing a go-around, I can well imagine it's nerve wracking. The flight crew will be so pre-occupied with carrying out procedures and flying the aircraft, they won't get chance to let you know striaght away what's happening. They apply the following; aviate, navigate, communicate. Having had to attend some of the training that cabin crew do for the job I do, and a lot of other key training (I'm not in that line of work but share some of the training), you don't realise or appreciate the level of training cabin crew receive. Same for what I do for that matter! They don't just serve meals and coffee, they are primarily there for safety. For example I was on my sea survival refresher the other week and some Virgin Atlantic crew were on a similar course on how to prepare for a ditching and the use of life jackets, life raft and basic survival skills. You hope you never have to put it in to practice, but it's there when you do (eg what happened in the Hudson last month). I flew a couple of days after 9/11 and was at a conference near Canary Wharf in London when it did, I remember it like it was yesterday.

Darren

Thanks for that --- thought I'd over reacted ! I hope my fellow passengers read this and feel privileged too ---- like I said, our flight was delayed 2 and a half hours because our original plane 'died' earlier that day so we were already edgy to begin with!

Must admit, as a nervous passenger at the best of times, last week really did make me realise just how much we rely on the crew.
At the end of the day we are all human and I suppose I am guilty of thinking that the cabin crew are just there to serve tea and coffee!!! (Have to laugh though - we had extra leg room seats and the face of the stewardess opposite during the 'landing', bless her, said it all!)

I'm glad I go to work by car in a traffic jam at 5 mph!

The confusion between birds and dogs may be due to the fact that Canarias in Spanish is derived from Latin and means dogs, we call them the Canary Islands the Spanish call them Islas Canarias so I presume this is where the mix up came from.

Dave

In 6 and a half years of flying as cabin crew i've been privileged!?! to be part of 2 go arounds. 1 coming into Cayo Coco, Cuba as it was too windy to land, and once coming into Vegas as the Tarmac was too hot to land on it...and BOY, was it hot. It is scary for everyone involved, the cabin goes quiet, the crew will have a bewildering look on their faces, as we have no idea why it's happening and will generally go into 'safety mode', in which we will go quiet and start doing our drills in our head, just in case, gor forbid, we need to use them.
Take off and landing are the most critical points of flight and we need to be fully aware of surroundings etc at this time, so if we go quiet on you for any reason, or ask you to turn your light off, we're just doing it for safety reasons.
The fact that you didn't hear anything from the flight crew is quite comforting, because if it did deteriorate into an emergency situation you would, more than likely, hear commands straight away. During this period of silence, the flightcrew, as Dazbo5 has said, will be talking to ATC re; another 'plan for landing', then and only then when everything has been sorted will they let the rest of us in on the secret....but it feels like an age doesn't it?
Hope we have settled your mind a little bit, and please ask the crew if you feel nervous etc, to maybe explain th noises which you will hear throughout flight, it will help you relax a little. x

hi, i had this same experiance to egypt in jan! ours was beacuse of a plane still been on the runway and ours happend like you describe yours, close to land, then started shooting up (with turbalance too and in the dark!) felt like ages before anyine said anything, then the captin came on all ame and made a joke of it sayinf were giving you a tour of the bay lol, this made me feel better then.
but me and my fiance were so so scared i really thought we might die at that moment and i was scared then on the return flight even though the flight was fine. :-( credit to the pilot though for getting us out of danger, shows the skill they have but unfortunatly im still a little scared!
ive posed my experiance on the fear of flying topic.

We had an aborted landed a few years ago with Balkan air. We were just about on the tarmac, then the runway lights all went out and we took off again. We were supposed to land at Varna but had to land at another airport Sophia I think. We were told nothing only that we couldn`t land at Varna.We eventualy landed at Sophia airport. Once off the plane and in the terminal we were told they might take us by bus to our resorts but after an hour or so they decided to put us back on the plane and fly back to Varna. This was all so scary. We were sacared geting back on the plane, once on the captain anounced that the reason for the aborted landing was that a thunder storm had made the runway unfit to land.

This was all rather odd but that was Balkan air, smoking was on one side of the plane and the hand luggage was stored in mesh holders (like the ones on old buses) Bulgarian wine was free through out the flight though so that made up or it.

We had 2 go-rounds when trying to land at Corfu airport in June 2007.

The weather was appalling, cloud level was very low and there was an electrical storm going on to the right .
We climbed and banked very steeply the 2nd time, lots of people were being sick.

We were diverted to Thessalonika where the Air Malta captain had to request funds to pay for the additional fuel required to get us back.

When the weather cleared, we landed in Corfu OK.

Lots of planes were diverted that day, one from Glasgow or Edinburgh was diverted to Athens and the passengers were put up overnight.
I think the plane before us (First Choice) was the last one to get down, that had a go-round too before landing.

Thanks for those folks ! As has been said, it is the initial 'not knowing' that is the frightening thing as everyone starts to imagine all sorts! After the Hudson issue, the crash near New York and the plane with a wheel coming off the night before we flew I think that problems with planes had been very much at the front of our minds ....

It is really interesting to read about it from the crew's perspective - the stewardess who made the announcement was so 'matter of fact' bless her! Oh well, all of these 'go around' stories just go to show how skilled our pilots are ...Reacting so quickly to sudden changes is bad enough in a car --- imagine piloting a plane over 200 people behind you!

Oh well - off to Crete in August ------- like I said, have done our aborted landing now so it must be chill out next holiday!

Happy, safe landing all

I've had 4 go arounds in over 1500 flights as a pax. First at Heathrow, 2 at Glasgow and last one at Washington.

3 were caused by debris on runway (incuding the IAD one - longest go around I've experienced at about 25 minutes) and 1 caused by a plane which had just landed not clearing the runway.

Because of the change in the engine noise pitch I worked out pretty quickly what had happened each time. I wasn't particularly excited and don't remember any panic onboard. The Captain let us know what happened once he had made arrangements for landing. I'd be surprised if many pilots of commercial airliners hadn't experienced several go arounds over the years.

Far worse was the descent into Orlando, where there was a lighting flash appearing every few seconds, no matter which window you looked out of This was the only time I've seen a spontaneous round of applause on landing. MCO was closed for an hour just after we landed, to allow the thunderstorm to pass.

There was no panic on our plane but you got the feeling talking to folk after that if people could have run up and down the aisle with their arms in the air shouting "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" they would have done! The good British stiff upper lip works every time



Re lightening ----- we had that on an open top boat in Sorrento when we just drfited in a storm with flashes and bangs all around us on the open sea ! Now that is a different story and a different topic

I'll shut up as this could turn in to a Monty Python "I lived in a cardboard box" sketch ! (You have to be a certain age to get that one!)

pretty polly cat blimey 2 go arounds in one go that must have been terrifying and bigkester 4 go arounds seems like there not so uncommon......

Had a go-round in Dubai before christmas we were very low i could have kissed the tarmac this on an A340 Qatar Airways.I asked the cabin crew on disembarking if he was a new pilot practicing,didnt get much of a laugh.

linzi_lou wrote:

4 go arounds seems like there not so uncommon......

You have to remember go-arounds are a safety procedure for the reasons I listed at the top of the thread. They aren't carried out unless necassary. On that basis, they aren't 'routine' or all that common. The actual go-around procedure is routine, ie it is done to a pre-determined procedure as set out for the particular airport and is part of the landing checklist just in case a go-around is necassary.

Darren

bigkester 4 go arounds seems like there not so uncommon......

You have to bear in mind the number of flights versus the go arounds experienced - average of 1 in 400 or so, or 0.25%, in my case. As Dazbo says they are not that common, but I'd guess that my average might not be untypical. For someone taking 8 flights a year, my average would result in experiencing a go around every 50 years, so that might put it in perspective.

Great --- that's it now then until I'm about 110 !

Great --- that's it now then until I'm about 110 !

Will that happen before or after the summer?

Hey bigeckster ............. how to upset a 'young lady'

Just realised that my maths was out somewhat ----- rather than 110 make it 95 !!!!!!!

And that is not for a while thankyou very much! Though my aborted landing made me feel way over 90!