According to the Federal Aviation Administration, an American Airlines flight that was landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport made a go-around after an air traffic controller told it to do so to prevent getting too close to another plane taking off from the same runway.
Less than two hours before another airliner trying to land at Chicago’s Midway Airport had to climb back into the sky to escape another aircraft crossing the runway, American Flight 2246 from Boston made the maneuver at approximately 8:20 a.m. on Tuesday.
Both American Airlines and Southwest Airlines released statements stating that their crews performed preventative go-arounds and that their aircraft landed safely. In contrast to the event at Reagan, where pilots followed the tower’s orders, the Southwest pilots had to move swiftly to avoid the other plane.
These kinds of maneuvers are not completely unusual on commercial flights, according to aviation experts, for a variety of reasons, including as inclement weather or a deer crossing the runway. If the plane is still flying high enough on approach, pilots can perform a go-around with little to no notice to passengers.
According to Robert Joslin, a professor of practice in the College of Aviation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, it likely occurs more frequently than you and I understand. It’s not always because the jet is preparing to strike someone.
Joslin cited the Federal Aviation Administration’s most recent data. According to a recent FAA report, in fiscal year 2023, go-arounds were used for over 4 out of every 1,000 arrivals at the 30 busiest airports in the country. To put it in perspective, the FAA manages over 45,000 flights every day.
Two studies regarding near-collisions that occurred at Honolulu and Sarasota, Florida, airports last year were released by the National Transportation Safety Board on Wednesday.
According to the findings, a number of issues played a role in Hawaii, including the airport’s antiquated and subpar architecture with many crossing runways. The controller was able to instruct the Cessna to turn off on a taxiway before it reached the enormous Boeing 777 crossing the runway, but that design, along with one pilot’s error of continuing past where he was supposed to stop, allowed the two planes to come within 1,173 feet (358 meters) of one another.
Because another plane taking off from the same runway hadn’t taken off yet, one plane had to abort its landing and circle in the Sarasota incident last February. In that instance, the NTSB attributed the controller’s mistake to their failure to adequately monitor the situation and their assumption that the first plane would clear the runway in time.
However, similar to Tuesday, a go-around that the pilots started kept those planes from approaching one another within half a mile.
According to Joslin, pilots are taught how to perform go-around maneuvers. Additionally, students must prepare for the likelihood of a missed approach while using instruments to fly an approach to a runway in low-cloud conditions.
According to Joslin, pilots may abandon a landing for a variety of reasons, such as flying too high and too quickly or not aligning with the runway. Air traffic controllers may have unintentionally allowed a jet to cross a runway, or another aircraft may be taxiing on the runway when it shouldn’t be.
Is there a pilot problem? A problem with air traffic control? A problem with the weather? A problem with wildlife? Name it. Joslin, a former principal scientific and technical consultant for flight deck technology at the FAA, stated that there are numerous causes for this.
Four significant aircraft accidents have occurred in North America in the last month. Among these are the February 6 commuter jet disaster in Alaska that killed all 10 people on board and the January 26 midair collision at National Airport between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight that killed all 67 people on board.
A young patient, her mother, and four other people were on board a medical transport plane when it crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood on January 31. Seven persons, including everyone on board, were killed in that disaster, while 19 others were injured.
On February 17, a Delta plane flipped and crashed on its roof at Toronto’s Pearson Airport, injuring twenty-one persons.
The Associated Press
