By the time a student has been signed off to solo, go-arounds should be automatic. Learning to go around early if things get out of whack is a major step toward becoming able to operate safely as pilot in command, and learning to commit to the go-around once the decision is made minimizes the risk of overruns, runway excursions, and other unpleasant adventures.
But good decision-making is just the start. Learning to execute the go-around correctly—without hesitation or the need to consciously think things through—can be the decisive factor in avoiding that shared nightmare of student and CFI alike: an accident on a student solo.
On June 23, 2009, a student pilot flew her first solo in a Cessna 177B. The first landing was apparently successful; on the second, the airplane began to porpoise after the nose gear touched down, and bounced several times before she decided to abort the landing. When she added power, the airplane veered left toward a line of trees, prompting her to remember the right rudder. She also retracted the flaps from 20 degrees to 10 to reduce drag, with the result that “…the airplane entered a nose-down attitude…before it landed hard on all three landing gear off the left side of the runway.” The NTSB report adds the pilot “noted that she had not received flight instruction demonstrating the airplane’s flight characteristics while in ground effect at airspeeds at or near stall speed.”
That's a remarkable statement, since that’s exactly the situation in which many go-arounds begin. If this student had never been taught to keep the ball centered while the power kicked in, and to hold the nose down until the airplane reached flying speed, her instructor had neglected a critical part of her training—and she wasn’t ready to solo no matter how good her landings.
Before giving that coveted endorsement, an instructor should be profoundly confident that the student can land the airplane—and absolutely certain he or she knows how to go around.
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