Missing the Miss

Every instrument approach procedure we fly ends in one of two ways: We either see the runway environment and land, perhaps after circling to align ourselves with a runway, or we dont. When we dont, we fly a missed approach procedure designed to get the aircraft back to a safe altitude and position from which the next steps can be taken. Those next steps can include trying the same approach again, shooting a different one or diverting to a different airport. Its not that hard.

Thursday, March 09, 2017 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Missed approaches, despite their procedural simplicity, are a phase of flight where pilots frequently experience accidents, often due to a failure to properly execute the maneuver.
Accidents during missed approaches primarily stem from two categories: spatial disorientation, where pilots prioritize unreliable sensory input over flight instruments, and loss of control/CFIT (Controlled Flight Into Terrain), often a result of basic airmanship failures during the climb.
Preventing these accidents requires pilots to maintain high proficiency in instrument flying, consistently trust their instruments over sensory perceptions, and meticulously execute the climb and navigation procedures of a missed approach.

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Every instrument approach procedure we fly ends in one of two ways: We either see the runway environment and land, perhaps after circling to align ourselves with a runway, or we don’t. When we don’t, we fly a missed approach procedure designed to get the aircraft back to a safe altitude and position from which the next steps can be taken. Those next steps can include trying the same approach again, shooting a different one or diverting to a different airport. It’s not that hard.

And missed approaches themselves shouldn’t be that difficult: Set climb power and either fly straight ahead or turn one way or the other toward a nearby fix once reaching a specified altitude. The exact missed approach we’re to fly is displayed on the plate itself or is as directed by ATC in our approach clearance. Regardless, each miss requires adding power, climbing, probably turning and maybe holding. Yet pilots can’t seem to stop having accidents while flying a miss. So we took a look at some recent NTSB accident reports to learn more about how pilots are missing the miss. They seem to break down into two main categories, and we’ve supplied an example of each.