Single-Stage Go-Around

Convincing the airplane that youve changed your mind and now want to climb-at the best rate, by the way-requires adding power, arresting the descent and beginning a climb, reconfiguring the airplane and ensuring directional control. While the order in which we perform these tasks varies-check your POH/AFM for the details-we still have to fly the airplane as we accomplish them. That means we can be tempted to add full power when doing so is probably not what we want to do.

Joseph E. (Jeb) Burnside

Sunday, March 17, 2019 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Go-arounds are critical maneuvers performed from a challenging flight regime (low airspeed, high power, close to ground, landing configuration) where maintaining aircraft control is paramount.
Applying full power too rapidly in powerful aircraft during a go-around can lead to significant directional control issues due to strong left-turning tendencies, especially when compounded by gusty crosswinds.
The recommended technique for a safe go-around involves adding power in stages, prioritizing directional control and airspeed acceleration, before smoothly transitioning to climb power.
A fatal accident case involving a Howard DGA-15P illustrates the dangers of failing to adequately compensate for engine torque and maintain control during a go-around in adverse wind conditions.

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One of the first things student pilots learn is how to recover from a balked landing and go-around. Sometimes, the approach is so bad that we don’t even get to the “balk” part. But when we do—as when recovering from a bounced landing—we’re exposing ourselves to the bottom corner of an airplane’s operating envelope: low airspeed and high power. Just to make it fun, we’re also close to the ground and in the landing configuration.

Convincing the airplane that you’ve changed your mind and now want to climb—at the best rate, by the way—requires adding power, arresting the descent and beginning a climb, reconfiguring the airplane and ensuring directional control. While the order in which we perform these tasks varies—check your POH/AFM for the details—we still have to fly the airplane as we accomplish them. That means we can be tempted to add full power when doing so is probably not what we want to do.