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

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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 operations, with most airline pilots experiencing them less than once a year.
The primary reasons for go-arounds are insufficient separation between landing aircraft (often due to air traffic control errors) and unstabilized approaches.
Poor weather rarely causes go-arounds due to Part 121 visibility requirements, but go-arounds are frequently practiced in simulators and reviewed in approach briefings because they are uncommon and critical.

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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

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