Silvaire wrote:
saying “123AB look off your right wingtip” to him
That was good and reminded me of my incident 
I had an AAIB accident about 30 years ago. The AAIB report was accurate and fair. A magazine comment on the report was not.
I do not regret my decision to abort, knowing I couldn’t stop before the fence.
The Jodel was repaired and I flew her back from Stronsay to Inverness a few days later.
Had I continued a serious accident outside the airfield was very likely.
As well as standard “Go Around”s I’ve recently had strange circuit variations due to VFR GA aircraft occupying the runway much longer than ATC expected at a busy time with commercial traffic.
Peter wrote:
I don’t think I have ever gone around from a landing unless there was a runway obstruction.
I’ve gone around many times if I did not like the position I was in, mostly on short runways. Speed, height, track e.t.c all have to be stabilized down to the touchdown point. If not, you can sometimes “save” a landing if the runway is very long, but very often going around and do it again properly is the far safer variant.
if you fly at busy uncontrolled fields, you’ll do a go-around occasionally. Runway length or pilot skill is not the issue. People don’t see you on final and take-off in front of you. The radio doesn’t always work. It’s SOP to calmly pull right and go around in that circumstance.
I remember once in my slow Luscombe flying off one guy’s right wing on his initial upwind, reading his tail number and then saying “123AB look off your right wingtip” to him. He had no idea I was there until that point
I’ve done a few go-arounds, even on ENVA’s 2900m long runway… That was a big wind gust just before touch down with the SkyWagon (tailwheel). But also a few on the short grass fields around the area. If you don’t touch down on the very first part, you need to go around (I’m talking 400m long grass runway with some hills and trees around).
I could not count the number of times I have chosen to go around – lots. Mostly because I didn’t fly the approach right, not due to external factors. I’m sure for each one of these I could have gotten on the ground without killing myself or someone else, but probably not without aircraft damage. I have never regretted a go-around, but I have regretted some of my ugly landings!
I have only gone around from a landing approach three times, but two of them at very low altitude height (<50ft) .
My experience has been that when landing with standard Vref, a transition to a climb is very undramatic. You don’t need full power (although that is SOP) and the flap setting seems to have the biggest impact. Understandably, one does not want to retract flaps when close to the ground, but after power application if you can keep the nose in check the risk of a stall is usually low and a quick airspeed check and perhaps progressive flap retraction minimize any fear of altitude loss.
I could not reasonably have avoided either of those two go arounds which were due to a runway incursion and my own omission in gear-down selection, respectively. Aiming for the runway posed a higher risk than what ended up being a very undramatic go around. The third one was at 500ft when another airplane rolled out on final 50m ahead of me unannounced and then I flew announced formation on him for a few seconds before peeling off for another circuit. Also undramatic.
A different matter is if you are flying short-field approach speeds: then the speed and trim changes required to establish a climb can have a bigger impact. Never happened to me, but usually when in that situation I am typically more focused on landing a’la @Peter. On our plane it is about 72 vs 82KIAS .
I don’t think I have ever gone around from a landing unless there was a runway obstruction.
I have never gone around except for training purposes although I’m pretty focused on such option in case of weather minima or other weather-related potentially dangerous phenomena.
Let’s just say it didn’t happen at all like the story he constructed on the basis of the BEA report.
I am not surprised about a junk BEA report. N2195B, D-ESPJ…
I too tend to think that focusing on a landing is safer than the standard advice which is to treat a landing as a go-around, and you land only when everything is going well. That’s ok on a 2km runway but in GA we are often landing on marginal runways and really need to get the landing right. I don’t think I have ever gone around from a landing unless there was a runway obstruction.
Capitaine wrote:
Reversion to original plan. Danger level increases dramatically.
One example that occurs regularly is landing too fast and very long before hasty deciding to go-round with short remaining runway: it’s throwing fuel on fire…usually it’s not clear how much runway one needs when doing touch-and-go or balked landings on new types? on bad flap config?
The advice is to go for long runway with balanced length, if you go for short runway it has to be: go-around very early or full stop and take the loss…
