Conversations in Dispatch Can Get Tricky

That voice-of-God vibe air traffic controllers have makes a pilot forget they’re allowed to push back.

Friday, March 01, 2024 at 12:55 PM ET

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FLYING contributor Ben Younger says ATC has asked him to do things on short final before, and it’s normally a nonevent. [Courtesy: Ben Younger]

Key Takeaways:

A pilot received an urgent "go around" command from Newark Tower while literally over the runway threshold, due to a controller's spacing error involving a jet behind.
The pilot regretted complying with the go-around, believing they should have declared "unable" as they were committed to land and no immediate hazard existed, highlighting the influence of ATC authority.
During the unexpected go-around, the pilot made a critical error by forgetting to adjust trim after adding full power and retracting flaps, causing the aircraft to pitch up sharply and nearly enter a stall.

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Newark Tower came on the radio, and the voice sounded urgent: “Bonanza Five Zero Whiskey, go around. Go around.”

It’s not like I’ve never heard those words before. Things happen at busy airports, and the tower will sometimes throw something at you at the last second. But this was unusual in that I was on short final. No, short final is actually a misnomer in this case. I was over the numbers. Flaps down, gear down, throttle back to 15 inches, trim plus-9 and increasing. I was, quite literally, about to land. Things went a little sideways from there, but let’s back up a minute first.