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

Verified

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 infrequent in commercial airline operations, with pilots often experiencing them less than once a year.
The primary reasons for go-arounds include insufficient separation between landing aircraft (often due to air traffic control errors) and unstabilized approaches.
Poor weather is an uncommon cause for go-arounds, as commercial flights require visibility to be above minimums before initiating an approach.
Despite their rarity, go-arounds are frequently practiced in recurrent simulator training and reviewed during approach briefings to ensure pilots are prepared for them.

See a mistake? Contact us.

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

If you're not already a subscriber, what are you waiting for? Subscribe today to get the issue as soon as it is released in either Print or Digital formats.

Subscribe Now

READ MORE: What Do Pilots Need to Know About Temperature Inversions?

It’s quite rare to go missed on account of poor weather, since Part 121 requires reported visibility to be above minimums before starting an approach. Because go-arounds are both uncommon and easy to botch, they are practiced frequently during recurrent simulator training, and it is now common to review go-around procedures during the approach briefing.

READ MORE: Can a CFI Applicant Teach Ground School?

Do you have a question about aviation that’s been bugging you? Ask us anything you’ve ever wanted to know about aviation. Our experts in general aviation, flight training, aircraft, avionics, and more may attempt to answer your question in a future article.

This article was originally published in the December 2022/January 2023 Issue 933 of FLYING.