Go-around
flight maneuver
In aviation, a go-around is an aborted landing of an aircraft that is on final approach or has already touched down. A go-around can either be initiated by the pilot flying or requested by air traffic control for various reasons, such as an unstabilized approach or an obstruction on the runway.
Etymology
The term arises from the traditional use of traffic patterns at airfields. A landing aircraft will first join the traffic pattern/circuit and prepare for landing. If for some reason, the pilot decides not to land, the pilot can simply fly back up to traffic pattern altitude/circuit height, and complete another circuit. The term "go-around" is still used even for modern airliners, though they often do not use traditional traffic patterns/circuits for landing, instead using an airport-specific go-around procedure.
Reasons for use
Initiation of a go-around may be either ordered by air traffic control (normally the local or tower controller in a controlled field) or initiated by the pilot in command of the aircraft for a variety of reasons, such as an unstabilised approach, improperly executed landing ("bounce"), mechanical issue, sudden wind change, unsafe flight condition, or traffic on the runway.
In naval aviation, the term wave-off is used instead of go-around. When touching down on an aircraft carrier, a pilot always initiates a wave-off by applying full thrust as a fail-safe measure. If the plane's tail hook fails to catch any of the arrestor cables (known as a (deck) "bolter") the aircraft can climb again.
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This entry incorporates text from “Go-around” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.