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 was commanded to "go around" by Newark Tower when literally over the runway numbers, despite being cleared to land and perceiving no immediate hazard, suspecting the controller misjudged spacing for a trailing jet.
In complying with the last-second go-around, the pilot critically forgot to reset the trim from its full-up landing setting, causing the aircraft to pitch violently upwards upon applying full power, creating a dangerous near-stall situation.
The experience underscored the pilot's reflection on the right to refuse unsafe instructions ("unable") and the critical importance of meticulous execution and trim management during high-workload maneuvers like an unexpected go-around.

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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.