Abort Landing

[jams]

I was flying into Newark Airport the other day......we were just about 200 feet above the runway ready to land and then we pulled back up made a giant loop around and landed safely. During our 20min loop around the pilot came on and said there was something on the runway so we had to abort.

I wish I could get to the bottom of the story. Sounds like someone screwed up big time. Someone was where they shouldn't have been!

I was amazed that everyone on the plane was calm and thought nothing of it. I kept my mouth shut as not to alarm my wife but inside I was fuming that some idiot may have just caused a big crash.

I don't know how often this happens but I have a feeling it happens more than we think.

I will have to check out the FAA website to see if you can report such an incident.

Home safe and sound!

[J. T. Toad]

It could have theoretically been anything. Not just a typical idiot.

I would feel blessed that the pilot decided to abort and go around rather than not pay any attention to it, or assume it would get out of the way, and blown up the entire plane.

[Stentor]

I fly a lot--usually 75 to 100 flights a year.

I have had this happen a few times over the last several years (at least one of which was at Newark).

Newark is an extremely busy airport--with lots of traffic and planes going every which way (which increases the likelihood of something like this happening).

As J.T. said, it's a good thing your pilot was aware of the situation and pulled up.

[meat]

Originally Posted by jams

I was flying into Newark Airport the other day......we were just about 200 feet above the runway ready to land and then we pulled back up made a giant loop around and landed safely. During our 20min loop around the pilot came on and said there was something on the runway so we had to abort.

I wish I could get to the bottom of the story. Sounds like someone screwed up big time. Someone was where they shouldn't have been!

I was amazed that everyone on the plane was calm and thought nothing of it. I kept my mouth shut as not to alarm my wife but inside I was fuming that some idiot may have just caused a big crash.

I don't know how often this happens but I have a feeling it happens more than we think.

I will have to check out the FAA website to see if you can report such an incident.

Home safe and sound!

Go arounds happen all the time. Runway intrusions from aircraft, wacky lost animals wandering around, airport maintenance picking something up that shouldn't be on the runway, other aircraft not clearing the runway in time, etc.

It's not necessarily someone 'screwed up big time' it's the job of the PIC to determine when a go around is required. If the pilot had landed in an unsafe condition, attitude, etc THEN someone would have 'screwed up big time.'

I've had go arounds because of birds, trucks, coyotes, wind shear, and just because I didn't think I had enough separation between the jet in front of me. It's the pilot's call, and not a big deal.

When I had a cylinder decide it no longer wanted to be part of my engine and I had oil streaming down the side of the plane and was very quickly learning that Cessnas don't glide nearly as well as Duo Discus do THAT was one time that I figured that a go around was pretty much out of the question. Slip in, shut down, get off the runway. Other than that, go arounds are always an option.

Your pal,
Meat.

[jams]

Believe me, I am glad the pilot went around. Sounds like go arounds are more comment then I thought!!!!

Better safe than sorry.

[Ron61]

Jams, When I was in the Military we had to abort some landings, but when I got back home and started flying all over the country for my job, we aborted several landings and once in San Francisco we had to abort twice and then circle for quite a while to burn fuel and wait for a break in the WIND as it was so strong across the bay it had already caused two of the 747s to go off the side of the runways. Also once going into the Burbank Airport where the jets fly below the top of the canyon on final approach, they hit a wind pocked and the plane turned upside down about 1/2 mile from the Airport fence. they managed to get it back right side up just as we cleared the fence by less than 50'. That was my most thrilling ride of the bunch.

Ron

[Doug I]

I've aborted a good number of landings just because they 'didn't feel right'.

[EarlsflyinCobra]

Just fly GLIDERS and then you won't have to worry about aborting a landing...LOL....its usually a must to GET ER DONE the first time..................

[AMF]

Last year,

I was flying into Gulfport, MS for a Christmas party at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi.

As we approached the coast, there was what seemed to be a LOW lying cloud COVERING the entire area (most meteorologists call that FOG) as we flew past the airport to turn around for a Southern facing landing, you couldn't see ANYTHING, the ONLY thing you could see was the cooling tower of the power plant. (which shows you just how low the clouds were).

As we descended for landing we started breaking into the fogs/clouds and you couldn't see squat. Then, I could barely makeout I-10 and thought (man, all the times I've landed here, we're awfully high to be landing at the airport, which is near the interstate).

well the fog got worse and you could see anything until you started to be able to makeout houses and such....THEN, what seemed to be 100 or so feet off the ground, it became apparent that the runway was on one heading and the plane's attitude was on a different heading (by about 30 degrees).....the pilot immediately jammed on the power and we pretty much executed a takeoff (we were VERY close to the ground).

All the people in the plane were wide eyed and white knuckled as the pilot came on saying..."folks it seems that the weather in Gulfport isn't going to allow us to land safely so we're rerouting to New Orleans...." we were all like "YA THINK!"

There wasn't a single person on the plane that complained.....that is until the airline left us parked at the terminal for almost 2 hours while they tried to figure out just what to do with everyone.

[meat]

Originally Posted by AMF

Last year,

I was flying into Gulfport, MS for a Christmas party at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi.

As we approached the coast, there was what seemed to be a LOW lying cloud COVERING the entire area (most meteorologists call that FOG) as we flew past the airport to turn around for a Southern facing landing, you couldn't see ANYTHING, the ONLY thing you could see was the cooling tower of the power plant. (which shows you just how low the clouds were).

As we descended for landing we started breaking into the fogs/clouds and you couldn't see squat. Then, I could barely makeout I-10 and thought (man, all the times I've landed here, we're awfully high to be landing at the airport, which is near the interstate).

well the fog got worse and you could see anything until you started to be able to makeout houses and such....THEN, what seemed to be 100 or so feet off the ground, it became apparent that the runway was on one heading and the plane's attitude was on a different heading (by about 30 degrees).....the pilot immediately jammed on the power and we pretty much executed a takeoff (we were VERY close to the ground).

All the people in the plane were wide eyed and white knuckled as the pilot came on saying..."folks it seems that the weather in Gulfport isn't going to allow us to land safely so we're rerouting to New Orleans...." we were all like "YA THINK!"

There wasn't a single person on the plane that complained.....that is until the airline left us parked at the terminal for almost 2 hours while they tried to figure out just what to do with everyone.

Well, THAT doesn't make any sense. Looking at the runway diagram, it appears that a southern approach on runway 18 in fog would be an incorrect thing to do. Runway 14/32 is the one that's ILS. A commercial carrier (as well as the tower) would know this.

Your pal,
Meat.

[Don]

Due to the congestion on the ground approaches to the runways from/to the terminals, crossing active runways , etc there was mention of using stop/go red/green lights embedded in the ground at the busier airports, has anyone seen these, or already in use ?

For those that recall the C-119 flying boxcar, lost an engine about 20 minutes after take off. Everyone had a parachute on and we were told to tighten the straps and get ready for a possible jump, we were not paratroopers. Pilot decided he could make it back and aborted the jump, wow, sure got everyones attention, and then boarded another C-119.

[AMF]

Originally Posted by meat

Well, THAT doesn't make any sense. Looking at the runway diagram, it appears that a southern approach on runway 18 in fog would be an incorrect thing to do. Runway 14/32 is the one that's ILS. A commercial carrier (as well as the tower) would know this.

Your pal,
Meat.

I'm just telling you what happened, I'm not a pilot or an ATC. I fly in an out of all sorts of airports that change the landing approach based on the pervailing winds. I've landed in Gulfport several times while approaching from the North. In fact, I don't know if I've ever landed while approaching from the South. The reason I know is because we always cross over I-10 right before landing.

[bomelia]

I have experienced several aborted landings. Worry not. Worry more about landings that should have been aborted, but were not.

Mike

[767Jockey]

I'm an airline pilot based in Newark. Go arounds are very common there. Usually in an effort to fit more aircraft into the same amount of tarmac, the controllers will occasionally bite off more than they can chew by spacing the aircraft too closely together, resulting inevitably in an aircraft landing and not being able to clear the runway before the one behind them lands. Once the trailing aircraft sees that the prior one won't clear in time, it's a go around. No big deal at all. Relax, it's an easy maneuver. Hey, it may have even been me doing it!

[Stentor]

Originally Posted by 767Jockey

I'm an airline pilot based in Newark. Go arounds are very common there. Usually in an effort to fit more aircraft into the same amount of tarmac, the controllers will occasionally bite off more than they can chew by spacing the aircraft too closely together, resulting inevitably in an aircraft landing and not being able to clear the runway before the one behind them lands. Once the trailing aircraft sees that the prior one won't clear in time, it's a go around. No big deal at all. Relax, it's an easy maneuver. Hey, it may have even been me doing it!

767, for which airline are you a pilot? Continental? I fly a lot in and out of Newark.

[Wes Tausend]

...

I think I could trust a pilot who has as much to lose as I do. Of even more concern to the pilot, I know what it's like to personally ride on the nosecone of the infernal contraption. Four hundred thousand pounds, thirty-two million, whats the difference after the first hundred thousand behind a man? At least I don't have passengers to worry about, just a load of coal.

I look over my little machine before board, something pretty hard to do with todays huge jets. But still, I worry more about the competence, and especially lack of incentive, of guys who are not riding with me. Like lax management and lax major mechanical inspections.

( http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080404/...lowers_hearing )

Like an acquaintance used to say, "Only two things fall out of the sky. Fools and bird$hit". Not that I'm afraid to fly ...just sometimes insuring my odds of landing OK. It's always nice when something doesn't come loose at a bad time.


...

[Ron61]

Wes,

Unless your track crews around there do better than here I would be worried abut that too. We have a lot of derailments at the Dunsmuir Curve and most of them are caused by two things. The train going to fast and a rail being loose. I don't think they even have a maintenance crew here any more like they used to that was responsible for so many miles of track. Now they wait until a train derails and send out an investigation team to tell them that a rail was loose or that a tie had rotted so much the spike could no longer hold.

Ron

[AMF]

Originally Posted by Ron61

Wes,

Unless your track crews around there do better than here I would be worried abut that too. We have a lot of derailments at the Dunsmuir Curve and most of them are caused by two things. The train going to fast and a rail being loose. I don't think they even have a maintenance crew here any more like they used to that was responsible for so many miles of track. Now they wait until a train derails and send out an investigation team to tell them that a rail was loose or that a tie had rotted so much the spike could no longer hold.

Ron

I think the general public has no idea how many train wrecks there are each year in our country.

I'd considered traveling by train a couple of times, until I really researched it and I learned that A) It's not as cheap as you might think (in many cases it's more expensive) and B) It's not as safe as you might think.

[767Jockey]

Originally Posted by Stentor

767, for which airline are you a pilot? Continental? I fly a lot in and out of Newark.

Yes, Continental. I hope you've flown us and we've treated you well.

[meat]

Originally Posted by 767Jockey

Yes, Continental. I hope you've flown us and we've treated you well.

I like Continental. Of course, flying commercial is like taking the bus when you can drive your own car...

Your pal,
Meat.