How Often Do Airliners Go Around?

Go-arounds aren’t terribly common under Part 121 commercial operations.

Wednesday, April 12, 2023 at 09:22 AM ET

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The most frequent cause behind a go-around is a lack of separation between landing traffic at busy airports, usually when air traffic control mistakenly vectors a heavier, faster aircraft behind a lighter, slower one. [Credit: Adobe Stock]

Key Takeaways:

Go-arounds are uncommon in Part 121 commercial operations, with pilots typically experiencing them annually or less, primarily due to insufficient aircraft separation (often an ATC error) or unstabilized approaches.
Poor weather rarely causes go-arounds because Part 121 requires reported visibility above minimums, but pilots frequently practice these procedures in simulators and review them before approaches due to their uncommon nature and potential difficulty.

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Question: How often do airliners go around, and what’s the usual reason?

Answer: Go-arounds aren’t terribly common under Part 121 commercial operations, and most airline pilots go a year or more between wave-offs. The most frequent cause is a lack of separation between landing traffic at busy airports, usually when air traffic control mistakenly vectors a heavier, faster aircraft behind a lighter, slower one. Unstabilized approaches are another common reason, either the result of being “slam-dunked” by ATC or simply misjudging a visual approach.

This Article First Appeared in FLYING Magazine

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