Mentor Matters: Taming the go-around

Configuration changes

Go-arounds are tough to master, and proficiency is difficult to retain, because there are so many procedural steps to execute—all in a specific order—and most need to be done in a brief period of time. On approach, for example, a pilot may go from a fully clean configuration to a fully dirty configuration in three or four steps executed over several minutes. During a go-around, the landing gear and flaps must be retracted in the span of seconds for a two-engine go-around, or perhaps in a minute for a one-engine-inoperative (OEI) go-around. Each clean-up step must be executed at a specific cuing event, based on various vertical speeds or airspeeds. The pilot wouldn’t want to retract all flaps while still at the reference approach speed (VREF ) flown with full flaps, for example, or the aircraft would be placed dangerously close to the (now higher) stall speed.

Yet while the pilot wouldn’t want to rush the flap retraction, neither should it be delayed. Particularly in the event of a single-engine go-around, the flaps can create an immense amount of drag. At high weights and temperatures, this drag can be enough to render a climb impossible until the aircraft is partially cleaned up. On the flip side, some more powerful aircraft will accelerate so quickly during a two-engine go-around that if the flaps aren’t retracted rapidly, it can be easy to exceed the maximum flap limit speed.

While the pilot is retracting gear and flaps, he or she also has to manage pitch and power. The aircraft most likely was descending on a glidepath before the go-around, with a slightly nose-low attitude and a low power setting. The pilot must quickly transition to full power and a nose-high attitude, but as with the drag cleanup, the transition must be done in a Goldilocks manner—just right. Pitch up too quickly and airspeed can decay dangerously; pitch up too slowly and the aircraft can descend below protected airspace on the approach.

What’s more, power can’t be left at go-around thrust forever. Most light jets have a maximum-thrust time limit of five minutes during two-engine operations, and 10 minutes during OEI flight. Practically speaking, however, most pilots will reduce thrust earlier to minimize stress on the powerplants.

Navigation and autopilot tasks

The last layers of complexity added to the go-around are navigation and automation management. The missed approach procedure may require a complex sequence of turns and/or level-offs before the final altitude and course are reached. Nearly all modern GPS/FMS units are able to automate the missed approach, so the pilot doesn’t need to manually spin HSI courses and change radio frequencies—but all require a pilot input in order to begin doing so.

The pilot must quickly transition to full power and a nose-high attitude, but as with the drag clean-up, the transition must be done in a Goldilocks manner—just right.In modern glass-cockpit flight decks, the pilot pushes a go-around button on the side of the throttles. In older aircraft without fully integrated FMS, the pilot must push buttons on the unit itself to trigger missed-approach guidance. Likewise, depending on the avionics, the switch from ground-based (e.g., ILS) HSI guidance to GPS-based navigation information may be performed automatically by the go-around button push, or may require a separate pilot action.

Lateral and vertical guidance

Even if the pilot is now seeing the needed missed approach information, there’s another step in most jets: telling the automation—the flight director and autopilot—to follow this guidance. Many newer jets enter a basic wings-level mode when the go-around button is pushed. This is fine for the first few seconds of transitioning to climb, but the pilot must quickly couple the autopilot to the missed approach path lest a dangerous, straight-ahead flight path end with flight into terrain or obstacles. Some of the newest flight decks automate this process: The go-around button triggers the more sophisticated lateral navigation tracking mode, rather than a simple, wings-level command.

Just as the autopilot’s lateral modes usually require pilot programming during the go-around, so do the vertical modes. Most flight directors will switch to a predefined pitch-up of between 5 and 10 degrees when the go-around button is pushed. Again, fine for presenting the busy pilot with a crude target as he transitions from descent to climb, but not appropriate for more than a few seconds of use.

Typically the pilot will want to switch to a vertical mode giving precise airspeed tracking, and an airspeed either at or under the 200-KIAS limit found around most towered airports (FAR 91.117) if operating all engines—or a predetermined, slower airspeed giving good climb performance if OEI.

Memory items

While there is great variability between what different aircraft may automate during a go-around, the essential steps are common across all light jets. Pilots are taught mnemonics to help memorize the steps, because the middle of a go-around is no time to be consulting a checklist. A common one is “Pickle, Power, Pitch, Flaps.”

The pilot hits the go-around button (that’s the “pickle,” named after the bomb-release buttons on vintage bombers), powers up, pitches up, and immediately commands partial flap retraction. After a half-second beat, the pilot confirms, “Positive rate, gear up, FMS guidance, select NAV”: retract the landing gear, and then switch to (or confirm) that the HSI has coupled to the FMS/GPS source.

In an OEI situation, the pilot would add to the previous string “Flight level change VGA,” a reminder to set the vertical automation to command the optimal OEI go-around speed (called VAPP or VAC by some manufacturers). At a safe altitude and airspeed the pilot would complete the go-around with “Speed 200 (or otherwise appropriate for the aircraft), flaps up, climb power, climb checklist.”

By combining a dozen discrete steps into three clusters of actions, the pilot can accomplish the necessary aviation and navigation steps while also maintaining control of thousands of pounds of accelerating metal. Trying to do the steps off the cuff typically is far less successful, as pilots who have developed go-around rust often discover during recurrent training.

Author Neil Singer is a Master CFI with more than 8,500 hours in 15 years of flying.