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Hi I was checking flights at Heathrow on flightradar24.com the other day and found this plane a bit strange. It looked like the first landing wasn't successful. The plane may have touched down but pulled up again, and then came back for a 2nd landing. Does anybody have any factual information on what happened? Thanks.

AT800 / RAM800F, 2nd April 2022, landing

AT800 / RAM800F, 2nd April 2022, landing

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    $\begingroup$ There are many many reasons why an aircraft might go around or perform a missed approach (in fact it is often said that pilots plan to go around, and a landing is welcome but unexpected). Try googling those terms for more background. Without listening to a recording of the radio conversation at the time, it would be very difficult to say what the exact reason is for this exact go-around. $\endgroup$
    – randomhead
    Commented Apr 4, 2022 at 19:03
  • $\begingroup$ Same day, a british airways flight did the same youtube.com/watch?v=jMGsm89GYSs&t=7645s $\endgroup$
    – EarlGrey
    Commented Apr 6, 2022 at 16:52
  • $\begingroup$ Could be one of many reasons, see: How common are cancelled landing attempts? $\endgroup$
    – user14897
    Commented Apr 7, 2022 at 10:32

2 Answers 2

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There are many, many reasons why a pilot might go around.

Unfortunately, listening in to ATC broadcasts is illegal in England, so even if the tower did ask the reason for the go-around, it doesn't help us. There's also probably no publicly available record of the reason, so guessing is about the best we can do.

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  • $\begingroup$ Personally experienced the passenger out of seat one, as soon as they said we were on approach and to remain seated, the guy gets up to go to the bathroom. Even with the flight attendants yelling to him to stay seated, he just casually walked to the bathroom. What's worse is that it was a very small airport, single aircraft stationed there, we were on the ground and out of the aircraft pretty quick, he could have waited 5 minutes. $\endgroup$
    – rtaft
    Commented Apr 6, 2022 at 11:59
  • $\begingroup$ @rtaft Some things just can't wait - vomiting is something that is very hard to repress. On the other hand, a toilet break can generally be repressed for a bit. Or maybe they're just selfish. $\endgroup$
    – Criggie
    Commented Apr 6, 2022 at 22:00
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    $\begingroup$ @Criggie. Could be deaf too, idk, he wasn't rushing and didn't turn around to look at or respond to the yelling flight attendant. The timing of it, casualness, and lack of response made it seem intentional. $\endgroup$
    – rtaft
    Commented Apr 7, 2022 at 13:33
  • $\begingroup$ I've had to go to the bathroom so badly that I couldn't have waited five minutes. But I wasn't casually walking to the bathroom; I was running as fast as I could. $\endgroup$
    – Someone
    Commented Sep 23, 2022 at 1:29
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It is not at all unusual for commercial planes to do a "go-around" if the landing picture is not to professional standards.

Remember that a commercial plane frequently has between 100 and 250 lives on board. There is simply no good reason to risk all those lives on a landing that is even a little bit out of "standard". A go around costs a bit in terms of fuel, and maybe 20 extra minutes of time. But compared to the safety of the passengers, it is not a concern.

  • There are plenty of YouTube videos of planes going around during gusty and windy conditions.
  • Sometimes birds or wildlife spotted in the area of the runway can be cause for a go-around, because hitting an animal during landing can be a serious problem.
  • Sometimes timing on the ground is an issue: if the prior aircraft doesn't quite clear the runway fast enough, or a ground vehicle is crossing the runway too slowly, its better to go around than to have a close call.
  • Sometimes the pilots' just have not established a well stabilized approach, due to workload, miscommunication, or difficult conditions.

It is much more rare (but not unheard of) for there to be a runway incursion, such as a vehicle (airplane or GSE) crossing the runway without permission or the pilots lining up for the incorrect runway.

I've spent a lot of time near the departure end of SeaTac airport, and can always hear when a plane suddenly spins up their engines for a go-around. It probably happens to at least one flight every couple hours. A single go-around is not a safety problem. (If a pilot has a bunch of repeated, unjustified go-arounds, they'll likely be sent for more training). A go-around is far more preferable than the possible alternate outcome.

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