Aborted Landings

Originally posted by Stevieboy
Has anyone actually left the ground and come straight back into land. I think that would really freak me [:$]

I took off, did an orbit and came back once. I was in CVG flying back home. Of course, knew the crew as they had operated other flights to BGM. We had to pick up some deicing in CVG due to a freaky quick snow squall. On climbout, we leveled off at about 6,000 and slowed down. I looked over at my lead who was traveling with me, only to see his puzzled expression, "That's not normal".

About 5 minutes later the captain came on and said they'd had some fluctuation in oil pressure on one of the engines, and we were going to head back to CVG to have it checked out. We ended up swapping aircraft, and departed CVG again about 30 minutes later.

Our assumption was that during deicing some glycol may have been accidently injected into the engine. On talking with the crew later, they said the fluctuation was very brief and everything went back to normal- the return to CVG was purely precautionary.

We also get a fair amount of aborted landings at our airport. We're right on top of a hill, so we get a lot of fog, and a lot of snow in the winter. There have been times when aircraft have shot the approach 3 or 4 times, only to end up diverting to another airport.

I've never actually been onboard one, but they are quite a sight from the ramp. Even the CRJ is quite impressive on go-around performance.

I have had two go rounds, 1 aborted take of and 1 crash landing in 40 years. The first go-round was in a BA VC10 in 1976.Just about to land in the Seychelles and just over the end of the runway when full power was applied and we did a long slow circuit. The crew stayed at the same hotel and I subsequently found that there vas a relatively new first officer who was doing the landing. At the last moment the captain had reaslised the undercarriage was not down!! The second was two years ago on the VS Washington flight. An aircraft ahead was slow to clear at IAD and we went round the landing being aborted at about 500 feet. (In the subsequent landing the tail struck the runway

The aborted TO was in a BA 146 at Newcastle. The Captain told us the had had been asked to abandond the take off due to a military flight in the area declaring a low fuel emergency. We stopped on the runway and took of from where we had stopped. During the take of there was severe juddering from the front of the aircraft. When we landed at Gatwick, the landing roll also suffered severe shuddering. It was found that a nose wheel tyre had burst when we aborted the take of.

The crash landing was in a Viking of Overseas Airlines at Lyon in France in 1962. Both engines failed during take off and the aircraft pancaked on a grassland adjacent to the airport afaterbeing airborne for two or three minutes.. A few bumps and bruises but the plane never flew again.

I've been flying for Virgin for 4 years and have had 2 aborted landings. The first was in Newark due to traffic on the runway. Although all of my colleagues remained calm we had 2 passengers who had panic attacks. We heard via PA from the flight deck approx 10 minutes later what had happened. It takes the flight crew a while to pass on any information because for them it's one of the busiest 'normal' procedures that they perform.

The second incident was in Las Vegas. Around 10 minutes before landing I could tell that the approach didn't seem normal and mentioned to my colleagues in the cabin to expect a go-around. They of course thought I was guessing and din't take any notice. Around 1 minute before landing we performed a go around. There were 2 problems with this approach. Firstly, the air temperature outside was around 45 degrees C, meaning that the air was rising very quickly and making a normal decent very difficult. The second was that we were landing on a runway that the on board computers didn't recognise. For some bizzare reason the aircraft thought it was landing at LHR instead of LAS. Therefore, when the go-around began the aircraft thought it was below ground!!!!! Bizarre I know but that's how the FO explained it to me in simple terms. Because of the fast rising air and the bizarre computer setup we climbed past the 7000 feet we should have levelled at and levelled at 12000 feet in around just 2 minutes!! The steepest climb I have ever known in a B744!!! 3 other aircraft behind us also had to perform go-arounds.

Hope this clears up that this procedure is quite common and perfectly safe so next time it happens to you... DON'T PANIC!!!

Originally posted by Regisair

The crash landing was in a Viking of Overseas Airlines at Lyon in France in 1962. Both engines failed during take off and the aircraft pancaked on a grassland adjacent to the airport afaterbeing airborne for two or three minutes.. A few bumps and bruises but the plane never flew again.

Blimey[B)]

Good for you that it all ended well - I'm sure it would be different in todays litigious world but back in 1962 what did the airline offer you as a way of compensation?

Originally posted by MarkJ

Originally posted by Regisair

The crash landing was in a Viking of Overseas Airlines at Lyon in France in 1962. Both engines failed during take off and the aircraft pancaked on a grassland adjacent to the airport afaterbeing airborne for two or three minutes.. A few bumps and bruises but the plane never flew again.

Blimey[B)]

Good for you that it all ended well - I'm sure it would be different in todays litigious world but back in 1962 what did the airline offer you as a way of compensation?


The other factor I did not mention was that the airline went bankrupt the day before the crash and we were on the last flight before total shutdown. The day after the crash the airline flew an ex Trans Canada Airlines Canadair North Star out to Lyon to collect us. To do so they had to drain fuel from their aircraft parked up at Gatwick. We thiought we were lucky toi get back to the UK. Nothing from Overseas as they had gone out of business.

Regisair

Originally posted by Tombull10
It takes the flight crew a while to pass on any information because for them it's one of the busiest 'normal' procedures that they perform.

Totally agree, the workload even on a small, single engine piston aircraft is quite significant on a go around. You've got to climb out fairly hard, then accelerate the aircraft and clean up (retracting gear and flaps), often while following a specific procedure for the balked landing, and talking to ATC.

Firstly, the air temperature outside was around 45 degrees C, meaning that the air was rising very quickly and making a normal decent very difficult. The second was that we were landing on a runway that the on board computers didn't recognise. For some bizzare reason the aircraft thought it was landing at LHR instead of LAS. Therefore, when the go-around began the aircraft thought it was below ground!!!!!

First day of a new AIRAC cycle, by the sound of it. An uncaught error in the data file can cause those sort of things - like runways in the wrong place (in the eyes of the computer anyway).

Couple that with a hot and high environment, and it's easy to see how much the workload will skyrocket.

In answer to the question, I've never had a go-around in a commercial aircraft, despite the 50-odd commercial cycles I fly each year.

Cheers,
Mike

never had an aborted landing, but flying back from Barbados three years ago the Monarch Cpatain announced that he was going to make a practice landing at Gander to see how the brakes would perform on the ice and snow, so he came in landed and took straight off again circled then came in for the real landing, few worried faces on that flight.