My Air France Flight aborted its landing!

france777 · Post by **france777** » 09 Sep 2005, 22:35

Hello,

I was wondering if somebody could assist me with some feedback as to what happened on my flight last night to Dulles airport. I was on AF 26 from Paris, a boeing 777 which went on uneventfully. As we approached the runway on final approach (I admit I was paying careful attention as to how high we were coming in on the runway in light of the Toronto crash) everything seemed normal. We must have been literally no more than 20 feet above the actual runway, I was bracing for the gear to hit, when suddenly the jet at what seemed like full throttle went into a steep climb. we leveled out and just cruised for probably 5 minutes straight into the yonder. The passengers seemed suprisingly calm and I was wondering myself if this was routine, but it sure didn't seem like it considering how close we were to hitting the ground. Finally the plane turned around and apparently began another approach. Soon afterward the captain came on and apologized for the missed landing we passengers "surely noticed," and nonchalantly said it was due to another aircraft on the runway???!!! Did this mean that he was a hair away from landing a huge jet into some other plane that was not where it should have been on the main runway at Dulles? We got off the plane and nobody seemed to be commenting, but I definitely was wondering what happened.

Does this make sense at all? Is this typical? And did I just barely miss out on a huge aviation disatser?

Thanks in advance to all forum users for some insight. Does anybody have connections and dulles who could tell me what really happened?

Post by **luchtzak** » 09 Sep 2005, 23:48

Most likely an aircraft landed before the AF 777 and didn't left the runway fast enough, or another aircraft before the AF 777 wasn't airborne yet. If the AF 777 did't receive a landing-clearance (landing-clearances might come late) they have to perform a go-around. Those situations can happen occassionaly and the pilots are prepared for these events. Better to land on a empty runway than to collide with another plane

france777 · Post by **france777** » 10 Sep 2005, 16:08

Thanks for the explanation, but that still doesn't make sense to me as we were literally one second away from touchdown. I mean we were well over the runway. Isn't that a late time for the tower to clear the pilot, when his landing gear is about to hit? I mean I've observed planes for years and do not recall ever seeing a plane that close to landing suddenly jet back up into the stratosphere

bits44 · Post by **bits44** » 10 Sep 2005, 17:52

Any number of occurrences can cause the approach controller to order a go-around, it might have been a flock of birds crossing the runway, or possibly a sudden increase in a cross-wind, or maybe a ground vehicle incursion. Controllers hate to order go-arounds, they know it causes delays at gates, costs money for fuel, and a bunch of reports to fill out.

But the most important thing, no matter what the cost, its the safety of the passengers first and foremost, and everyone else at the airport. SAFETY RULES.

KT

bigjulie · Post by **bigjulie** » 11 Sep 2005, 01:01

bits44 wrote:But the most important thing, no matter what the cost, its the safety of the passengers first and foremost, and everyone else at the airport. SAFETY RULES.

SAFETY is the Number One Priority for anything to do with aviation

Knight255 · Post by **Knight255** » 11 Sep 2005, 08:29

Go-arounds are not that uncommon, the planes that fly these days are more than capable of performing a break-away approach single engine, let alone having both. What happens often (at least at O'Hare) aircraft are cleared to takeoff and land simultaneously so if the jet taking off takes too much time, the landing plane must go around. Nothing to worry about, everything is still safe. Think about it, how senior is that Captain flying the 777??? How much experience does he have???

chunk · Post by **chunk** » 12 Sep 2005, 09:41

I was on a flight from LHR to ABZ a couple of years back that did this....except the back wheels did touch the runway. It was very windy at ABZ that evening and they hit the very short runway too far down.....hence the rocket back up into the air.

Not the most pleasent of experiences but apparently not that uncommon....

Rayman · Post by **Rayman** » 12 Sep 2005, 14:57

It happened to me twice, both on KL and both at FCO.

The first one on RWY 16R a few inches from touch-down. I was sitting at window A, I looked down during rotation and climb and couldn’t see anything that looked like an airplane unless it was invisible stealth painted. From the cockpit it was announced that another aircraft was still on RWY 8O

The second one on RWY 16L. I could not take any look to taxi ways this time being opposite seated, again at windows A. The announcement from the cockpit was quite the same: another AC took longer to clear RWY

france777 · Post by **france777** » 12 Sep 2005, 21:19

Thanks for the explanations, I feel better. So this manoever is possible even if the plane is actually so committed that the back wheels touch the ground?? I was close, but the wheels in my guess were ABOUT to touch down, but now quite there yet. Verrrry close though.