Landing aborted 60 seconds from touchdown

[clipped_wings]

Hi all, just completed a short trip to Uluru with my family. A curious thing happened on VA1627 on 2 June and I am hoping the experts here may shed some light.

After a very routine and pleasant flight ex Sydney, we prepared to land at Uluru. Some chunky cloud cover had made it difficult to see much as we descended, but we punched through it with ease and were just hovering over the beginning of the runway. All of a sudden, the engines fired up, we hit the steepest incline I thought possible - and roared back up into the clouds. The turbines went into overdrive as we climbed quite high. I did what every normal thinking passenger would do. I glanced at the crew. They looked as bewildered as me, so we all just murmured between ourselves and kept calm, but our 14 year old autistic son went ballistic, as he was busting to use the toilet and refused to go during the flight.

The captain came on and announced that he was sorry, but we were going into a holding pattern until the situation could be assessed. I have no idea what that meant. He first said it was due to the weather and mentioned bumpy landings, then came back and said congestion on the runway, so I guess there may have been some issues with other aircraft not getting out of the way in time.

We did a few banks and stayed up for another 10 minutes before heading back down for a smooth landing. It was damp, but not raining and there were no other planes at the airport.

My question is this: Do pilots give you the actual story when things like this happen? Or are they obliged to say whatever needs to be said in order to keep the calm. Passengers were all very good natured and none of us thought we were ever in any danger, but I was curious to know if others here have experienced this scenario before.

NB; Sadly, our son soiled himself before we could get to a restroom and was extremely distressed, but I doubt there was much anyone could have done for him, so I don't hold anyone responsible.

 

[BAM1748]

Pilots are the captain of the ship so can say what they want or need to. Bit like Sydney Trains saying there is a signal failure rather than announcing to the hoards someone less fortunate has just been run over.

Roos on the tarmac ? Who knows.

 

[Craigie]

Could i suggest perhaps asking this question here: http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/open-discussion/ask-the-pilot-30478-953.html

 

[HeavyElectricity]

Good to hear passengers kept calm. We hada hard landing on VA181 SYD-NAN on Saturday (also 45mins late) - everyone shrieked and cried out! Which I thought was a bit of an overreaction. The cabin crew did make an announcement to apologise for the landing (not the flight crew) however.

 

[Boris spatsky]

Hi clipped_wings. I am sorry to hear of your issues. I am a pilot for an Australian airline and hopefully I can provide some insight.

Ayers Rock is a challenging airport to operate an airliner to on some days. It has a fairly narrow runway, has limited approaches for use in bad weather, and it is not uncommon to get significant turbulence or windshear on final approach. Further, it is not a controlled airport with air traffic control, and this can add some complexity to arrivals.

In this instance it could have been one of a myriad of possibilities - aircraft on the runway (no ATC so we talk to other pilots to separate ourselves), turbulence or windshear that made the approach unstable, wildlife on the runway etc.

Rest assured though that a go around is a completely normal procedure and there should be no need for alarm - airline pilots routinely practice such procedures and they are a normal part of our training.

As for what we say to the passengers after such an occurrence; I can only speak from my own experience - it is far more prudent in most circumstances to 1) talk in layman's terms and 2) downplay the situation whilst remaining factual. There is no point in me telling you that we have a high vibration on the left N1 indication and that we will have to do a precautionary shutdown (cue: instilling fear in the passengers) than telling you that we have a minor technical issue (which is true) and will be returning to the airport of departure.

Hopefully this helps with your questions.

 

[VOZ102]

Hi there. There was low cloud at the time you arrived - about 400 feet above the ground. The crew are required to sight the runway at about 500 feet for an approach into Ayers Rock. If they can't see the runway they are required to conduct a missed a approach and hold until there is an improvement of the weather. You can view your flight here: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/va1627#9e5180e

 

[jb747]

After a very routine and pleasant flight ex Sydney, we prepared to land at Uluru. Some chunky cloud cover had made it difficult to see much as we descended, but we punched through it with ease and were just hovering over the beginning of the runway.

Looking at FR24, you were actually about a mile short of the runway. That's basically the 'missed approach point', when on an instrument approach you need to be able to see the runway. Uluru isn't London....no fancy navigation aids there.

All of a sudden, the engines fired up, we hit the steepest incline I thought possible - and roared back up into the clouds. The turbines went into overdrive as we climbed quite high.

You've been descending with the engines at about 25% of their thrust, pitch attitude around 2.5º nose up, and descent rate of 700 fpm. When you get to minima, power is pushed to TO/GA (which is all of it), nose comes up to about 18º, and the rate of descent converts to about 2,000 fpm of climb. Which is pretty well exactly what you experience on take off, but it's the sudden change from one to the other that makes people think we're doing aeros. Most likely about 30 seconds after it started, the power would have been very substantially reduced...but once we decide to get away from the ground, it's done as quickly as possible.

My question is this: Do pilots give you the actual story when things like this happen? Or are they obliged to say whatever needs to be said in order to keep the calm. Passengers were all very good natured and none of us thought we were ever in any danger, but I was curious to know if others here have experienced this scenario before.

It's much easier to say what happened. In this case it looks like a very normal, and quite common, go around. For what it's worth, pilots pretty well never call this an aborted landing. It's a go around or missed approach. An abort is what happens when you discontinue a take off, and and aborted landing generally means you decide to go around after touch down.

 

[clipped_wings]

Thanks everyone for such excellent feedback. I knew there would be a concise and logical reason for such an exciting finish! I honestly love the moment a plane takes off, so I got to enjoy the "takeoff" feeling twice ha ha. At the expense of my poor son though, but - God bless him, his autism provides a wonderful 5 second span of attention, so he was back to happy before we left the airport.

I can't fault the cabin crew or pilots for the way they manoeuvred the plane and I apologise for my assumption that we were so close to the runway - that red earth was so deliciously deceiving!

PS - apologies for the tacky aborted landing comment - I should have known there'd be a more diplomatic version!

 

[davidhes]

Thanks everyone for such excellent feedback. I knew there would be a concise and logical reason for such an exciting finish! I honestly love the moment a plane takes off, so I got to enjoy the "takeoff" feeling twice ha ha. At the expense of my poor son though, but - God bless him, his autism provides a wonderful 5 second span of attention, so he was back to happy before we left the airport.

I can't fault the cabin crew or pilots for the way they manoeuvred the plane and I apologise for my assumption that we were so close to the runway - that red earth was so deliciously deceiving!

PS - apologies for the tacky aborted landing comment - I should have known there'd be a more diplomatic version!

Well done coming here and asking the question to better understand the situation. As an air traffic controller it bothers me (and I'm sure it bothers pilots as well) when the media interviews passengers after an aircraft makes a missed approach and they claim the plane was basically on the runway and it felt like they were going to crash etc. It is a standard and safe procedure that as described above, can happen for any number of reasons.

 

[flydoc]

Yes, the weather was indeed very inclement in the area this time last week.

 

[Marty_]

I have had this happen twice in my travels. Both at the last possible moment before touchdown. The pilots explained it was at the direction of air traffic control. One went on to say the runway was congested (which is disconcerting...)

So I guess it's not entirely unheard of.

 

[davidhes]

I have had this happen twice in my travels. Both at the last possible moment before touchdown. The pilots explained it was at the direction of air traffic control. One went on to say the runway was congested (which is disconcerting...)

So I guess it's not entirely unheard of.

Nothing to be concerned about at all. Likely another aircraft was too slow in comencing their roll or a vehicle didn't vacate in time after doing works. Air traffic control are doing their job and correctly sending the plane around. It's an annoyance for both air traffic and the aircraft but a safe and correct procedure nonetheless. Or another possible reason was the aircrafts approach was unstable and the aircraft elected to go around.

 

[Pushka]

When this happened to me on Virgin into Brisbane the pilot said 'oops, trying to land at the wrong airport'. A joke. It was because a flash flood filled the tarmac as we were seconds from touching.

 

[flydoc]

One went on to say the runway was congested....
Euphemism ++ ....
The only thing I want ahead of me on a runway is fresh air

 

[drivatruk]

What an interesting thread. Good post

 

[Marty_]

When this happened to me on Virgin into Brisbane the pilot said 'oops, trying to land at the wrong airport'. A joke. It was because a flash flood filled the tarmac as we were seconds from touching.

How interesting. Both of my experiences were landing in BNE.

 

[clipped_wings]

When this happened to me on Virgin into Brisbane the pilot said 'oops, trying to land at the wrong airport'. A joke. It was because a flash flood filled the tarmac as we were seconds from touching.

I guess having a sense of humour would be an asset when you've got so many people depending on you!

My husband said once that flying into Hong Kong was as scary as you could get, the approach was almost between the buildings as you neared the runway. Wouldn't want the pilot to sneeze............

 

[PLANT]

Touch and go..... They had watched top gun in 4k..... The day before and well it's the country thing to do.....

 

[badseed]

I once had an aborted takeoff on a Pan-Am A310 from LAX to JFK, and I recall the captain came on the PA and said in a big Texas drawl: 'Well folks, turns out our left engine wasn't quite ready to help us out today, so we'll be returning to the gate so the technical guys can sort it out'. Everyone laughed, and it helped defuse a fairly tense atmosphere, as whilst we were probably only half-way to V1, the braking and rudder action was pretty violent. So the tone and content plays a fairly vital role in relaxing the passengers.