After my article on overcoming go-around hesitation was published in the November 2012 issue of Flying, I received a message from Dr. Martin Smith about a study he and his associates at Presage Group Inc. conducted in conjunction with the Flight Safety Foundation. The goal of the study was to try to determine how commercial pilots’ situational awareness affects their safety and compliance with procedures and why pilots disregard go-around decisions required by FARs and company regulations on both visual and instrument unstable approaches. The study is part of a larger effort by the Flight Safety Foundation to identify the risks associated with a go-around.
Failure to go around during an unstable approach is the leading factor in approach and landing accidents and is also the primary cause of runway excursions. It is estimated that 97 percent of aircrews that find themselves in an unstable approach condition continue the approach and land. While the study was conducted mostly with professional airline pilots from many different areas of the world, with a median of 10,000 hours total time, I believe the same results would be true for general aviation pilots.
