Missed Approaches

Two missed approaches, with:

• At least one from a precision approach
• One consisting of a complete published missed approach
• In multiengine airplanes, a missed approach with one engine inoperative (or simulated) — the failure may come any time prior to the approach, during the approach, or during the transition to the missed approach attitude and configuration (ACS Appendix 3, Task I)

Descending below the MDA, or continuing below DA/DH without the runway environment in sight, is unsatisfactory — but a brief momentum dip below DA/DH when the miss is initiated at the DA is acceptable as long as the descent does not continue (ACS Appendix 3).

Heading, course, or bearing ±5°, and altitude ±100 feet throughout the procedure (AA.VI.I.S7), with the appropriate airspeed/V-speed ±5 knots once the climb is established (S3). Note the delta from the instrument rating's ±10° on the same maneuver — at ATP standards the miss is flown to the same heading discipline as the final that preceded it.

1. Promptly initiate and report to ATC (AA.VI.I.S1)
2. Power appropriate to the condition; pitch attitude for the desired performance (S2)
3. Retract flaps/drag devices and landing gear in the correct sequence at a safe altitude, establishing a positive rate of climb and the appropriate airspeed/V-speed ±5 knots (S3)
4. Crew coordination — procedures and checklists in a timely manner (S4)
5. Comply with the published or alternate missed approach (S5); advise if unable to meet a clearance, restriction, or climb gradient (S6)
6. Track it — MFD and navigation displays monitored (S8), CRM throughout (S9)
7. Re-engage the autopilot at the appropriate time, if installed (S10)
8. Then the plan: another approach, the alternate, a holding fix, or another clearance limit (S11)

Unless ATC has issued climbout instructions, continue on the approach track to the MAP at or above the MDA or DA/DH before beginning any turn, then fly the published procedure (IFH ch. 10; AC 120-108 para 3.9). The published miss provides obstacle clearance only when conducted from or above the MAP, assuming a climb of 200 ft/NM or higher as published — begin it somewhere else, below MDA, or off a circling maneuver, and neither obstacle clearance nor traffic separation is assured (IPH ch. 4). Early climbs have their own trap: charted climb-altitude restrictions between the FAF and MAP can exist to keep you out of overlying protected airspace (IPH ch. 4).

Three things, and the margins get real:

• Climb performance drops to the approach-climb capability of your type
• The required climb gradient may now exceed what the airplane can do — exactly why S6 requires advising ATC or the evaluator if unable to comply with a clearance, restriction, or climb gradient
• Configuration retraction sequencing (S3) becomes performance-critical rather than procedural

The failure may be introduced before or during the approach, or in the transition to the miss (ACS Appendix 3) — so brief the single-engine miss on every approach, not as a separate maneuver you hope isn't today's.

Immediately, when either condition exists:

1. Operating below MDA, or upon arrival at the MAP — including a DA/DH where specified — and at any time until touchdown, the 91.175(c) requirements (position for a normal-maneuver TDZ landing, flight visibility, visual references) are not met
2. An identifiable part of the airport is not distinctly visible during a circling maneuver at or above MDA, unless caused only by normal banking (91.175(e))

A clearance for the approach includes clearance for the published miss unless ATC instructs otherwise (IPH ch. 4). And the go-around below DA or after the MAP — a balked landing — is still flown, but 91.175(e)'s procedure doesn't necessarily assure obstacle clearance or traffic separation from that geometry (IPH ch. 4).

Three things to be able to state for your avionics:

• How the missed approach sequences in the navigator — what arms it, what the go-around mode does to the flight director, and when lateral guidance switches from the final approach course to the missed approach legs
• The autopilot's role — most types require hand-flying the initial rotation to the go-around attitude, with re-engagement only at an appropriate point once climbing and clean per the AFM (S10)
• What happens if the go-around is initiated late or early relative to what the box expected

The specifics are type-dependent — AFM territory — but the graded behavior is universal: fly the airplane first, sequence the automation second, verify the track third (S8).

Because the miss is flown at maximum workload, and if the reason for the miss was an instrument or display problem, you'll fly it partial-panel. K1 requires knowledge of missed approach procedures including reference to standby or backup instruments: where they are, what powers them, which nav source they can display, and how your crosscheck changes when the primary display is gone. Tie-in: one non-precision and one precision approach on the test are flown with backup/partial-panel instrumentation representing a realistic failure mode (ACS Appendix 3, Tasks D and E) — and either can end in a miss at the evaluator's discretion.

Interrogate why you missed:

• Visibility below minimums with no trend of improvement — a second approach to the same minimums is hope, not a plan; ask for holding with an EFC while you get weather, or divert
• Unstable approach or configuration problem — a self-inflicted miss; another approach is reasonable once the cause is briefed and fixed
• Deteriorating trend — fuel becomes the clock: under 121, the dispatch fuel assumed destination, most distant alternate, plus 45 minutes (121.639, domestic operations); burning holding fuel into the divert fuel converts options into commitments

State the decision as a crew, tell ATC what you want (S1, S11), and if a new climb gradient or restriction exceeds single-engine or weight-limited performance, say unable (S6). Fuel-state escalation — minimum fuel and emergency fuel — is developed under Task VI.J.

Fly your operator's script; the graded shape (S2, S3, S4, S9):

• PF: announces "go around," sets go-around power, rotates to the go-around attitude, calls for the first configuration step
• PM: verifies power set, calls positive rate; PF calls gear up; PM sequences flaps on the schedule, monitors airspeed floors, and makes the ATC report (S1)
• Both: verify the lateral and vertical guidance are flying the missed approach — not the old final — before trusting them (S8)
• Then the appropriate checklist, in a timely manner, once the flight path is stable (S4)

The classic busts: configuration retracted out of sequence or below a safe altitude (S3), and a turn begun before the MAP or before a charted altitude (S5).

The skill element requires complying with the published or alternate missed approach procedure. An alternate miss comes from ATC — climbout instructions issued with the approach clearance or during the miss — and it replaces the published procedure. Two disciplines: read it back and load or brief it before the FAF when it's issued early (a late FMS edit during the go-around is an automation-management risk, R5), and if radar contact or comms are lost after an ATC-issued climbout, know what you'd revert to. When ATC hasn't spoken, the published procedure is the contract (IPH ch. 4).