Let's Go Around!

Hello, my dear friends! I wish everything is ok and you are having really nice times!

So, today I would like to talk about go arounds and I will use my recent video which raised an interesting discussion among my foreign viewers.

I will explain the tricks which, I believe, must to be known by a 737 pilot. 737 is an old bird but still a lot of misunderstandings exist among the pilots.

And, as a bonus, we will talk a bit about Boeing procedures philosophy and Boeing call-outs as it was one of the topics of discussions under the video.

Let's go!

Tivat

Recently I uploaded a video showing my go around in Tivat.

I flew with a trainee in the left seat and the weather conditions over there were not very pleasant – the skies were gusty and bumpy. This always has a big influence on the path of the airplane and on the indicated speed – and we, pilots, have to maintain the airplane inside the gates of a stabilized approach. Outside of these gates the approach is considered to be unsafe and pilots have to cancel the approach, or, to do a Go Around.

Tivat is hidden between the mountains, and, when it is stormy, wind changes become unpredictable. The wind can throw the airplane up and down, and bank it at the same moment with a rapid speed change. If the pilot doesn't counteract deviations the approach can become unstable and unsafe.

Tivat, itself, is a specific aerodrome. The length of the runway is 2400m – not too much, though it is enough for a safe landing of Boeing 737 in most of circumstances. But pilots always keep in mind that the far end of Runway 32 ends near the water.

Normally, Runway 32 is used for landings. Both 32 and opposite, 14, do not have any precision type of approach. Only a circling approach is available for RWY 14 and Localizer/DME or circling approach can be used for runway 32, and because of the terrain the runway is not aligned with the final approach course – at approximately 500 feet you have to start banking left to align the airplane on prolonged runway centerline descending at the same time. The difference between the final approach course and runway course is 20 degrees.

To read thI flew with a trainee in the left seat and the weather conditions over there were not very pleasant – the skies were gusty and bumpy. This always has a big influence on the path of the airplane and on the indicated speed – and we, pilots, have to maintain the airplane inside the gates of a stabilized approach. Outside of these gates the approach is considered to be unsafe and pilots have to cancel the approach, or, to do a Go Around.

Tivat is hidden between the mountains, and, when it is stormy, wind changes become unpredictable. The wind can throw the airplane up and down, and bank it at the same moment with a rapid speed change. If the pilot doesn't counteract deviations the approach can become unstable and unsafe.

Tivat, itself, is a specific aerodrome. The length of the runway is 2400m – not too much, though it is enough for a safe landing of Boeing 737 in most of circumstances. But pilots always keep in mind that the far end of Runway 32 ends near the water.

Normally, Runway 32 is used for landings. Both 32 and opposite, 14, do not have any precision type of approach. Only a circling approach is available for RWY 14 and Localizer/DME or circling approach can be used for runway 32, and because of the terrain the runway is not aligned with the final approach course – at approximately 500 feet you have to start banking left to align the airplane on prolonged runway centerline descending at the same time. The difference between the final approach course and runway course is 20 degrees...

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