VS 24 - Touch and Go!!

Just had a call from Mavrick who is at T5 LHR and he told me that a VS flight touched down - rear wheels - and then took off again.

He said it was really low as it powered up to take off again!!

We think its the VS 24 as this was expected to land at this time.

Anyone else go any info.

Watch this space I guess!!

Touch and Gos are a fairly ordinary occurence at any major airport... usually due to something not having cleared the runway in time. I'd guess at least one a day at LHR.

Makes your stomach hurtle upwards which aint too pleasant, but nothing to worry about.

Overshooting the runway is much more serious though!

I saw this as well while waiting in lounge. For a a second thought a very short take off:)

To actually get to the point where you do intend to carry out a full-stop landing, but put the wheels down, then open the throttles up and lift off again (unless you're flying a training flight which is supposed to be doing a 'touch and go') isn't that frequent.

Balking the landing at about 50-100ft isn't unusual.

It was this sort of incident which led to the Qantas overrun in BKK a few years ago:

"The aircraft landed long in a driving rainstorm after confusion between the Captain and First Officer on whether to go-around. The aircraft overran the runway coming to rest on the fairway of an adjacent golf course. Pilot error."

Basically, the First Officer (the pilot flying) responded to a go-around inititated by the Captain (the pilot not flying), but the aircraft actually touched down while initiating the go-around, and the Captain decided to change his mind and continue landing, retarding all the throttles, but not applying any reverse thrust. The aircraft aquaplaned on the wet runway, and ran off the end.

Despite heavy damage to the 747, Qantas had it repaired so they didn't record their first ever hull loss.

But, go-arounds of one sort or another happen several times a day at Heathrow. When there is a go-around, the Air Arrivals controller in the "cab" at the top of Heathrow's tower, will press a button which sounds an alarm at Terminal Control, West Drayton - where the radar approach controllers (the atc people who guides the arrivals to the approach) are located. The alarm serves to alert the controllers at West Drayton to the go-around - both so the approach controllers are aware an aircraft is coming back to them, and the departure controllers can ensure departures remain seperated from the go-around. I'm told that the sounding of the alarm can usually get a small cheer from the floor .

I guess, in this situation, the crew may have seen some object on the runway that could have damaged the aircraft, and chose to go around, which is definitely the right thing to do! If there's any shadow of a doubt that it's unsafe to land, you go around!

Cheers!
Mike

Update:

Mavrick called me to say that a colleague of his was told that a BA 747 was still clearing the very end of the runway just as the 24 was touching down and so obviously it decided to "go around".

As Mike says its starnge that the aircraft actually got wheels down before aborting the landing!

But as they say - any landing you walk away from is a good one!!

Cheers Mike, that was really informative

Originally posted by MarkJ
Update:
Mavrick called me to say that a colleague of his was told that a BA 747 was still clearing the very end of the runway just as the 24 was touching down and so obviously it decided to "go around".

As Mike says its starnge that the aircraft actually got wheels down before aborting the landing!

Well, if the BA aircraft was still on the runway, the Air Arrivals controller wouldn't have given a "Clear to Land", in which case the Virgin A340 should have balked the landing much sooner.

The UK (in fact, I think most of Europe) is different from the US in this respect - you will only hear the words "Clear to Land" or "Cleared for Takeoff" when the runway is unequivocally yours. In the US, you can be the third or fourth aircraft in an arrival sequence, and still be "Clear to Land". In such a situation, the Tower controller is transferring responsibility to the pilot of the aircraft, and they will make the call about whether the runway is clear for a landing.

The only thing which exists in the UK is something known as a "Land After" clearance. This is a conditional clearance to land, based on an assumption by the controller that the previous movement will have vacated the runway - or be significantly far enough down the runway that it won't be a factor for the arriving aircraft - by the time the arriving movement is over the runway threshold. It requires good weather conditions, daylight, and has to be accepted by the pilot as well, as the responsibility is transferred to them at this point.

It's possible the Virgin A340 could have been given a "Land After", as the visibility today was very good, and didn't like how things looked at the last minute, thus went around.

Cheers,
Mike

Slightly OT, I was looking at Google Earth yesterday and on 27L at LHR there's one plane about to land and three on thre runway, plus one turning off it! The wonders of time lapse photogaphy [8D]

Originally posted by slinky09
Slightly OT, I was looking at Google Earth yesterday and on 27L at LHR there's one plane about to land and three on thre runway, plus one turning off it! The wonders of time lapse photogaphy [8D]

Hi Slinky. This was discussed recently here.

Phil FM

Originally posted by FamilyMan

Originally posted by slinky09
Slightly OT, I was looking at Google Earth yesterday and on 27L at LHR there's one plane about to land and three on thre runway, plus one turning off it! The wonders of time lapse photogaphy [8D]

Hi Slinky. This was discussed recently here.

Phil FM

P.S. It's on 09L

The plane landing after us on Sunday did a go-around - although I didn't manage to get the airline.[:I]

VS.

P.S. It's on 09L

Ah thanks ... I always get that wrong, even when (on Google Earth) its staring me in the face [:I]

i was on vs06 last sep and as we was just about to land at heathrow the engines throttled up and back into the air we went. We must have been about 50 ft from landing when we shot back up. The captain just said we had to do a go around but didntgive a reason why. V-ben has it right it is an experience, not one i would like to happen again though.

Rejected take offs are the exciting ones! Makes you appreciated the seat belt and with such a small seat pitch there is less time for your head to build up speed and hit the seat in front if you weren't bracing yourself!

[preiffer]

Hmm. If the plane actually touches the runway, I wonder if the government would see that as a take-off as well as a landing?

... and therefore a source of Departure Tax. [:w];)

I bet BAA would demand the landing fee and the take off fee and the go around fee and the use of airspace fee and the fee fee!!