Why don't we see more pilots performing this life-saving maneuver? It may have something to do with the macho factor ("I can save this approach, just watch me") or peer pressure ("if I chicken out now, they'll think I can't handle it"), which can lead some pilots to believe that their passengers might equate a go-around with pilot error or incompetence. Nothing could be further from the truth. It takes a good deal of skill and planning to properly execute a go-around. As for the macho factor, it has no place in aviation and has hopefully been replaced by honest self-assessment and disclosure of one's mistakes in the interest of safety and good cockpit resource management.
Professional pilots practice go-arounds during their required biannual simulator sessions. My airline promotes them as a wise decision and encourages pilots to use them as necessary. To help alleviate any uncertainly as to whether you should abandon your approach, use my favorite mental safety reminder: "How will it sound at the NTSB hearing?" Picture yourself telling the National Transportation Safety Board that you didn't go around because you didn't want to look foolish in front of your passengers.
The lamest excuse of all is, "I didn't have time to do a go-round." If you're that busy, then I suggest you hire a professional pilot to do the flying for you, lest one day you find yourself sitting amidst a pile of airplane rubble - hopefully alive - wondering what went wrong.
What's needed is a good explanation for our passengers, be it one person in the right seat of a Katana trainer or 140-plus passengers in an MD-80 airliner. Remind them that their safety is your first concern. Keep them informed in a timely manner. Once you've got the airplane under control during a go-around and you're climbing safely skyward, tell them that since your primary concern is for their well-being, you have rejected the approach and will be returning for another approach and landing. Experience teaches that passengers invariably appreciate your wisdom and maturity.
Having handled the hardest part of the go-around, the psychological barrier, let's discuss how to master the maneuver and make it easier to fly. No doubt the worst kind of maneuver is the one you practice the least. As is the case with all aspects of flying, the less you do it, the harder it becomes - even though most of it is a mental state you've created for yourself. So, the less you tend to practice, the harder it becomes, robbing you of your proficiency and the margin of safety that continuing training provides.
Go-arounds require skill and coordination. Review the procedure as set forth in the pilot's operating handbook for your aircraft. It is designed to accomplish a quick switch from one critical phase of flight to another without the usual transition period. The sequence of events needs to be flown correctly to stop the downward, high-drag, slow-speed approach profile and begin the transition to an upward, clean, climbing configuration. It requires numerous changes in lift, drag, and thrust. Few other maneuvers have this kind of complexity.
Start by anticipating the need for a go-around. Is there an aircraft, a vehicle, personnel, or wildlife on the runway? Is your approach too high? Are you too fast? Are there numerous other airplanes in the area, causing you to be distracted easily as you watch for traffic? Are there too many unanswered radio calls because you can't get a word in edgewise? Are there numerous airplanes departing amidst the stream of arrivals? Have you just heard someone announce an imminent departure on unicom frequency, with no indication that the flight saw you turning final? Has the tower failed to clear you to land - and now you're on very short final?
These are just a few of the warning signs that should sound the "caution, possible go-around" alarm in your head. If you've got the time, mention casually to your copilot or passengers to be prepared for a possible go-around. Then, start planning your get-out-of-town strategy so that you'll be ready when the control tower tells you to take a hike, or you decide to use your good judgment and execute a go-around.
Begin by visualizing the actions you will perform, and then verbalize them to remind you and reinforce the sequence of events. Airline cockpits are routinely filled with the Go-Around Chant when pilots see landing situations deteriorating. The flying pilot reminds the nonflying pilot of how he will execute the maneuver and chants the appropriate mantra - in my case it's "TOGA [for power up to the takeoff/go-around setting, a marked detent in most jets], flaps 15, check max power, positive rate of climb, gear up, altitude arm, heading select," and then we'll call the tower.
For light-airplane flying, I use the memory device that I learned during my initial multiengine training. It has the same series of actions as the airline chant, and it works just as well for a go-around as it does to clean up your "suddenly single twin." The call-outs are "Power, flaps, climb, gear" and I use the letters P, F, C, G to remind myself, before, during, and after the event.
First and foremost, add power by pushing the throttle(s) to the go-around limit. For almost all piston-engine airplanes that's full throttle; for others you'll advance the power lever(s) to the prescribed limit. Don't delay the application of power (smoothly, please). It is your lifesaver should all else fail. All airplanes will climb (in some fashion) with gear and flaps extended. Without power, however, no amount of drag retraction will keep you out of the dirt. With big airplanes we call it an immediate action item - all of which are required to be memorized and performed instinctively.
Flaps are the next item. If you've got any flaps hanging out (and normally you'll have full flaps extended when you begin your go-around), retract them to the go-around position so that the power you just added can do some good. For many training aircraft, you'll retract flaps to the approach position. It's important to remove that excessive drag promptly to help you accelerate and climb away from the ground. You do not want to retract the flaps completely on most aircraft, however - full retraction can result in a loss of lift that might allow the aircraft to settle to the ground.
Climb sounds like a relatively simple proposition, but it's worthy of your attention. No doubt your intention is to climb away from the ground at this point in the maneuver, but it is easy to get so busy with the other chores that you forget to focus on the crucial part of the go-around - the climb. Make sure you are gaining altitude by pitching the nose up to the desired attitude and then check the vertical speed indicator and altimeter to confirm that you're actually putting distance between you and Mother Earth.
Finally, for those of you with retractables, the gear needs to be raised once you've established a positive rate of climb. I recommend that you call out "positive rate" prior to raising the gear, so you don't start the retraction process with all of its incumbent drag until you've confirmed that you're definitely moving upward.
Power, Flaps, Climb, Gear: P-F-C-G. I memorized it years ago and find it works great for most any airplane, big or small. Hopefully, you've got a similar memory device to help you drill the life-saving maneuver into your subconscious where it will be ready and waiting whenever it's needed. If not, consider this one.
Now, once you're got the airplane firmly established in the climb, on heading, and on speed, key the microphone and announce your intentions. Just a simple "Cessna Five-Five-Six is going around" will do fine. Remember, when it's VFR, the controllers can see what you're doing and can wait to hear those magic words. When instrument conditions exist, announce "Cessna Five-Five-Six, executing missed approach" or "going around," but given the spacing required for IFR operations, it's not as crucial that you verbalize it immediately.
In order to avoid some of the common "gotchas," I've developed a few personal rules of the road to minimize the potential for a go-around. If I'm approaching an unfamiliar field at night, I always request the runway served by a glideslope or VASI. I never advise "airport in sight," unless I can see it clearly and am familiar with the area. When I hear over the radio that an aircraft in front of me is slowing for spacing, I volunteer to do the same, to avoid overtaking the aircraft ahead of me.
I try to plan ahead and definitely question any instructions that don't sound logical for the situation at hand. At a non- towered field, I fly defensively, continue to look for the unannounced straight-in approach, and broadcast my position on unicom during each leg of the traffic pattern. The Aeronautical Information Manual recommends that you say the name of the airport at the beginning and end of each transmission in the traffic pattern. Hopefully all pilots will adopt that habit to eliminate the concern we all feel upon hearing a partial radio call with no airport name.
Taking the mystery out of little-used flight maneuvers is mostly a matter of practice. All of us have been taught the basics. Your job is to practice them until they become automatic. Find something that works for you, so some dark and stormy night when you least expect it, you'll have a "P-F-C-G" or whatever you need stored neatly in the back of your mind, enabling you to execute your next go-around safely, smoothly, and comfortably. Then, you can tell your passengers, "With your safety in mind, we'll be returning for another landing" knowing that it's just a matter of keeping your cool, initiating the right steps when required, and flying the airplane - no matter how large or small.
Karen Kahn is a captain for a major U.S. airline and author of the book Flight Guide for Success - Tips and Tactics for the Aspiring Airline Pilot. Type-rated in the MD-80 and Lockheed JetStar, she's an FAA aviation safety counselor who holds ATP and Gold Seal CFI certificates. Kahn is rated in gliders, seaplanes, and helicopters. Visit her Web site ( www.AviationCareerCounseling.com ).
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