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

Verified

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 on very short final at Newark Liberty International Airport (KEWR) was unexpectedly ordered to "go around" by ATC, despite being cleared to land and having no apparent hazard, likely due to spacing with a following jet.
Complying with the urgent go-around, the pilot critically forgot to re-trim the aircraft after applying full power and retracting flaps/gear, causing the plane to pitch up sharply and nearly enter a dangerous stall/spin condition.
The experience highlighted the importance of pilot decision-making, as the pilot realized he could have declared "unable" to the go-around given his commitment, and underscored the critical need for proper trim management during high-workload go-around procedures.

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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.